12-22-2007, 05:03 AM
A tapered shaft was definately a yes, though i dont know by how much. a tapered wooden shaft helps with balance, and keeps the weight down as opposed to a long, straight pole with a massive counterweight. This much i can say for certain. other than that, i dont have anything that i can say is true. i have some theories, but they are pure speculation.
a personal theory: they could have been connected by nothing more than a pice of rawhide at times. when raw, untreated leather gets wet then shaped, it srinks tightly and hard as it dries. take two 9' poles and find a way to interlock them somehow, then wrap and tie a wet strip of rawhide around it.. the rawhide tightens and shrink wraps around the wood.if they had a way to keep both section of the shaft straight while the rawhide was drying, i see no reason why this woudnt work and be somewhat plausible. and its also easy to break down into a smaller spear, when needed. see bottom theory.
the one that really seems to apply to this is that extra sarrisa's were bundled and tied together, or atleast the shafts that were not in use. They must have had a large number of backup shafts,and bundling them seems one of the easiest ways to keep them in one piece. also, one bundles arrows together in the same way when the wood is becoming seasoned. it prevents warping.
and something else i think sort of belongs here... I dont think that the sarrisa was used for offense unless a military emergency was happening. an 18 foot spear held by one hand? have you tried to swing, parry, and stab at a target with one of those? i think the sarissa was used more as a defensive weapon. link up rows of them and keep them leveled.... cant break through. a smaller spear i can believe was offensive, maybe a ten footer max.
sorry if its too much guesswork, but its what comes across as being plausible to me.
a personal theory: they could have been connected by nothing more than a pice of rawhide at times. when raw, untreated leather gets wet then shaped, it srinks tightly and hard as it dries. take two 9' poles and find a way to interlock them somehow, then wrap and tie a wet strip of rawhide around it.. the rawhide tightens and shrink wraps around the wood.if they had a way to keep both section of the shaft straight while the rawhide was drying, i see no reason why this woudnt work and be somewhat plausible. and its also easy to break down into a smaller spear, when needed. see bottom theory.
the one that really seems to apply to this is that extra sarrisa's were bundled and tied together, or atleast the shafts that were not in use. They must have had a large number of backup shafts,and bundling them seems one of the easiest ways to keep them in one piece. also, one bundles arrows together in the same way when the wood is becoming seasoned. it prevents warping.
and something else i think sort of belongs here... I dont think that the sarrisa was used for offense unless a military emergency was happening. an 18 foot spear held by one hand? have you tried to swing, parry, and stab at a target with one of those? i think the sarissa was used more as a defensive weapon. link up rows of them and keep them leveled.... cant break through. a smaller spear i can believe was offensive, maybe a ten footer max.
sorry if its too much guesswork, but its what comes across as being plausible to me.
