Great Inventions and Discoveries

by Willis Duff Piercy

The use of stone weapons seems to have been universally characteristic of the earlier races of mankind, as it still is distinctive of the ruder races. The weapons made from stone were necessarily few and simple. The most common was an ax, made from various kinds of stone and with varying degrees of skill. Spear-points and arrow-heads were made of flint. These show a comparatively high type of workmanship. The highest efforts of the ancient stone-workers culminated in a leaf-shaped dagger or knife of flint, various in form but uniform in type. These flint daggers differed also in size, but seldom exceeded a foot in length. They were never ground or polished, but delicately chipped to a fine, straight edge, and were often beautiful.

Statues Showing Knights in Armor

In the Bronze Age several kinds of bronze daggers were made. The characteristic weapon of this period, however, was the leaf-shaped bronze sword. "No warlike weapon of any period is more graceful in form or more beautifully finished." This sword had a very thin edge on both sides running from hilt to point, and the handle was of bone, horn, or wood. The thinness of the edge seems to have been produced without the aid of hammer or file. The weapon was better fitted for stabbing and thrusting than for cutting with the edge. Bronze spear-points have been found, but throughout the Bronze Age arrow-heads were made of flint. There were also shields of bronze, held in the hand by a handle fastened to the center. The period of transition between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age is marked by an iron sword, which was similar in form to the leaf-shaped bronze sword.

Homer, the great Greek bard who is supposed to have lived about a thousand years before the birth of Christ, in speaking of the wars of the Greeks, describes their weapons somewhat fully. They used a double-edged, bronze-bladed sword, the hilt and scabbard of which were adorned with gold and silver. In the combats of the Homeric age, however, the spear, lance, or javelin played the principal part; swords were used only for fighting at close range. Bows and arrows also were used. The only iron weapon specifically mentioned is the arrow-head. This was inserted in a split shaft, precisely like the flint arrow-heads of the early North American Indians and other modern savages. The defensive armor of the heroic age of Greece was entirely of bronze. It consisted of a helmet for the head, cuirass for the chest, greaves for the legs, and a shield. The bronze cuirass was often ornamented with gold. The shield was round or oval in shape, very large, and covered with hide. The Greeks of the later or historic age fought chiefly with long, heavy spears. Later the shield was reduced in size and the sword increased in length. The light-armed troops were furnished with a light javelin having a strap or thong fastened to the middle to assist in hurling. A linen corselet came into use instead of the heavy metal cuirass. The mounted troops were supplied with a longer sword, a javelin, and a short dagger.

The military strength of early Egypt lay in her archers, who fought either on foot or from chariots. The Egyptian bow was a little shorter than a man's height. The string was of hide or cord; the arrows were of reed, winged with three feathers and pointed with bronze heads, and were from two to three feet in length. The Egyptian archers carried a curved, broad-bladed sword, and a dagger or a battle-axe for combat at close quarters. Their defensive armor consisted of a quilted head-piece and coat. They used no shield, as this would have interfered with the use of the bow. The infantry were classified according to the weapons with which they fought—as spearmen, swordsmen, clubmen, and slingers. The spears were five or six feet long and had triangular or leaf-shaped heads of bronze. The spearmen carried shields shaped like a door with a curved top, having a hole in the upper portion through which they could look. These shields were about half as high as a man and were covered with hairy hide, with the hair attached. The early swords of Egypt were of bronze, straight, double-edged, tapering from hilt to point, and measuring from two and a half to three feet in length.

The ancient Assyrians fought with swords somewhat like those of Egypt. They used also bows, lances, spears, and javelins. Their shields were round and convex; and their cuirass was a close-fitting garment made of many layers of flax, plaited together or interwoven, and cemented and hardened with glue. This linen corselet was found also among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans.

The characteristic weapon of the Romans, the greatest warriors of ancient times, was what the Romans themselves called the "pilum." This weapon was a pike having a stout iron head carried on a rod of iron. The iron rod was about twenty inches long and terminated in a socket for the insertion of the wooden shaft, which was a little more than three feet in length. The entire weapon was therefore about five feet long. The pilum could be hurled as a javelin with great effect. Piercing the shield of the enemy, the slender iron rod bent under the weight of the shaft, which trailed along the ground, making the shield useless for purposes of defense. When used at close quarters, the pilum had something of the efficiency of the modern bayonet; and when wielded firmly in both hands, it served to ward off sword-strokes, which fell harmlessly upon the long and strong iron neck of the weapon. No warrior of ancient times was more formidable than the Roman with his pilum. The Romans had also swords of bronze and bronze armor, resembling the armor and the swords of the Greeks. In the prosperous days of Rome, her legions, under one of the greatest military commanders of all time, Julius Caesar, brought nearly all the world of that day to the feet of their general.

The Franks, a Germanic people who lived early in the Christian era and who gave their name to France, used the battle-ax as their chief weapon. It had a broad blade and a short handle and was used as a missile. It is said that a blow of an ax, when hurled, would pierce an enemy's shield or kill him, and that the Franks rarely missed their aim. They wore no armor, not even helmets, though they carried swords, round shields, and darts with barbed iron heads, which were used for throwing or thrusting. When this dart became fixed in an adversary's shield, it was the habit of the Frank to bound forward, place a foot upon one end of the trailing dart, and, compelling the enemy to lower his shield, slay him with the battle-ax. The Franks used also a short, straight, broad-bladed sword, double-edged and obtuse at the point. The military organization of the later Franks changed from infantry to cavalry, and this change gave way in time to the era of chivalry. The superior soldiers of the time of Charlemagne had added to their equipment the celebrated coat of mail.