Xiphos
In use since the Bronze Age and mentioned by Homer, the ancient Greek xiphos was a pointed and double-edged short sword, typically with a two-foot long lenticular or leaf-shaped blade, that was used for both cutting and thrusting. Designed for single-handed use, the xiphos was favored by Greek hoplites and was carried by them as standard equipment when they marched off to war.
The xiphoi’s leaf shape distributed the blade’s weight more towards the tip, and put more mass behind the point of impact in cutting and hacking strokes. Because added mass means added momentum, it allowed the blade to cut more readily. Additionally, the leaf shape gave the blade a curve on both sides, and such curves were useful in push and draw cuts at close quarters.
Xiphoi were initially made of bronze, which made their leaf shape blades easy to create because bronze, unlike iron and steel, is cast rather than forged. Thus, getting the leaf shape for a bronze sword was simply a matter of pouring molten bronze into a leaf-shaped mold. By the 7th and 6th centuries BC, iron supplanted bronze in making xiphoi.
Xiphoi were usually carried in a baldric and hung under the user’s left arm. As ancient Greek warfare revolved around the phalanx, which was a spear-based formation, the xiphos was the hoplite’s or phalangite’s secondary weapon, employed in close combat for situations in which the spear was ineffective or not ideal. The Spartans were noted for their use of the xiphos, and Spartan xiphoi blades were particularly short, measuring only a foot in length – in order to draw Spartan warriors closer to their enemies, as they explained it.