I've been looking at pictorial evidence and archaeological remains to try to get a rough idea of where this stuff fits chronologically, and while it seems like the appearance of the "xiphos" type of short sword can be relatively safely attributed to the late7th/early 6th century BC or slightly earlier during the Archaic Period, it seems to devolve into a mess when it comes to this sword type's swan swong.
The last real examples i can found seem to all come from the days of the Macedonian Kingdom/Empire, and though it is implied the sword remains in service during the 3rd century BC and beyond with the Greek city-states and the remnants of Alexander's empire until all of that gets wiped out by the Romans and Parthians, there's little to no evidence save for a few depictions like on marble reliefs from the sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon.
What little representations i can find on the period seem to show different stuff, like the many statues from the Ptolemaic period which seem to show swords with Celtic-style trilobate pommels, and you could even be drawn to think that Hellenistic armies just started using Celtic-style swords altogether along the thureos.
Aside from that, i've got told that the Carthaginians were fond of Greek equipment and may have been rocking the whole panoply into the First and Second Punic Wars, aspis, Corinthian and xiphos altogether. But that's not much.
So i figured i might as well look here. Would you guys have anything on Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic uses of xiphos-style swords, or at the very least of the swords that may have been replacing it ?
The last real examples i can found seem to all come from the days of the Macedonian Kingdom/Empire, and though it is implied the sword remains in service during the 3rd century BC and beyond with the Greek city-states and the remnants of Alexander's empire until all of that gets wiped out by the Romans and Parthians, there's little to no evidence save for a few depictions like on marble reliefs from the sanctuary of Athena at Pergamon.
What little representations i can find on the period seem to show different stuff, like the many statues from the Ptolemaic period which seem to show swords with Celtic-style trilobate pommels, and you could even be drawn to think that Hellenistic armies just started using Celtic-style swords altogether along the thureos.
Aside from that, i've got told that the Carthaginians were fond of Greek equipment and may have been rocking the whole panoply into the First and Second Punic Wars, aspis, Corinthian and xiphos altogether. But that's not much.
So i figured i might as well look here. Would you guys have anything on Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic uses of xiphos-style swords, or at the very least of the swords that may have been replacing it ?
