Greek Sword
Greek Xiphos, Hoplite Sword with Scabbard, Decorating Sword
The hoplites of Ancient Greece, the brave infantrymen best known for fighting in a phalanx formation and wielding a spear or spear (dory) and a large round shield (aspis or hoplon), are commonly depicted with a secondary weapon at their side. One of these battlefield side weapons, a straight, relatively short sword with a sheet-shaped double-edged blade called xifhos, was quite popular among the Greek armies (among others, the notorious Spartans). Designed to cut and push, it was mainly used by the infantry as a reserve weapon for close-range combat or when the spear had been broken, lost, or snatched in the fray.