Swords, Rapiers and Horse-riders

Bibliographic Data

ID3452129
AuthorsD H Gordon, Douglas Gordon (corresponding author)
Year1953
Volume27
Issue106
Pages67-78
Publication date1953-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00024595
OpenAlexW2479695827
LanguageEN
Citations received9

There is much confused thinking about swords, the way they were used and the influence of their users on their form. An extreme case is that of the late Harold Peake who, describing a sword-type, said: 'These weapons, which must have been used as hatchets as well as for slashing, are called leaf-shaped swords'. He may, of course, have meant that they were used for hacking as well as for slashing-uses which, as I shall show, differ more than one would think; but it does sound as if he thought that the Late Bronze Age warrior used his prized sword for chopping firewood.Take nomenclature and definitions first. In the apparent absence of agreed definitions, each writer has to invent his own or leave it to the reader to do so. Peake, on the same page as the sentence just quoted, makes his definitions by stating that the dagger gave birth to the dirk and the dirk to the sword. I shall adopt this clear and concise nomenclature, but divide swords into two groups-long and short

Ancient history · Art · Bronze Age · Computer security · Dagger · Hacker · Linguistics · Literature · Nomenclature · Sentence · SWORD · World Wide Web · Ancient Near East History · Classics · Computer Science · History · Philosophy