Fig. 181.
Offensive arms may be divided into those which were used in close combat, especially lance and sword, and those which were used from a distance, in particular, javelin, bow, and sling. The spear, or lance, consisted in a shaft usually made of ash, provided at both ends with a bronze point; one of these points was used for attack, the other (compare Fig. [166]) to fix the spear in the ground when it was not required. The material for the point, in the heroic age, was usually bronze; in later times, iron. The blade of the point required for attack was usually leaf-shaped and two-edged (compare Figs. [178] to [181], taken from originals in Dodona); its length was from 7 to 8 inches, its breadth about 2½ in the middle; it was fastened to the upper pointed end of the shaft by a socket, and this socket was surrounded by a ring in order to increase the firmness. The lower end was usually only a short conical point. The length of the spear was greater in the heroic age than afterwards. Homer mentions spears about five yards long, and in naval warfare even one about ten yards long, but this was constructed of several pieces fastened together, and was probably only used in naval warfare to keep off the grappling irons; in later times the usual length was from two to two and a quarter yards. That is about the length of the spears represented in Figs. [167], [168], and [171]. We often find, as in Fig. [176], two spears in the hand of a warrior; this usually happened when the soldier used his long spear not only for thrusting, but also for throwing, in which case he would require a reserve spear. In thrusting, as well as in throwing, he clasped the spear in the middle with the right hand alone.
| Fig. 182. | Fig. 183. | Fig. 184. |
The sword is an even more useful weapon for hand-to-hand combat than the spear, which on account of its length can only be used from some distance. Originally swords were constructed of bronze, and this is the only kind mentioned by Homer, afterwards of iron; the blade was two-edged, and in the heroic age tolerably long, probably shaped like that in Fig. [182], which was brought from Mycenae and is twenty-four inches long; the two-edged blade and the top of the handle, which was decorated by plates of wood, bone, or such like, fastened on by nails, but which has not been preserved, were formed of a single piece. As this sword and the others resembling it were equally well calculated for thrusting and piercing, Helbig’s theory that they most closely resemble the Homeric swords, is a very probable one. The swords
