The Combat Archaeology of the Fifth-Century BC Kopis
Hoplite Swordsmanship in the Archaic and Classical Periods
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11719607 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas O Rover (The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-49 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-07 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Military History and Historiography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2468-3299 • E-ISSN: 2468-3302 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/24683302-20190001 |
| OpenAlex | W3003175931 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 8 |
‘Traditionalist’ scholars of historical Greek warfare assert that hoplites formed a close-order formation that moved slowly and deliberately to overwhelm its enemies. Opposing them the ‘revisionists’, claim that hoplites fought in an ‘open-order’ formation resembling Homeric combat well into the Archaic and even early Classical periods. Existing studies of the physical remains of Greek arms and armour, iconographic representations of hoplites in combat, and literary descriptions of Greek warfare are not decisive. Combat archaeology, i.e. the reconstruction and testing of arms and armour, remains a largely untapped source of evidence. This article presents the results of an experimental archaeological reconstruction of the kopis , a curved sword used in Greek combat from the mid-sixth to fourth centuries BC. A more complete understanding of the use of the kopis sheds light on the realities of hoplite combat and offers strong support for the traditionalist position
Ancient Greek · Ancient history · Archaeology · Armour · Classical archaeology · Order (exchange · SWORD · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Engineering · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2022 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |