Persian Weapons

[Paullus]

Another Persian shield was the gerron, a violin shaped figure-eight shield similar to the Boeotian and Dipylon types. It was made of wicker covered with leather. As with the spara it was not very sturdy.

By the time of Alex the G the spara had been discarded mainly, the gerron and pelta-types being skirmishing type equipment. Heavy Persian infantry called kardaces used copies of the hoplon along with Greek cuirasses. IIRC there were some 20,000 kardakes at Issus.

As for weapons of the infantry, the spear would have ranged from 6 to 10 feet in length with an iron head. Persian spears were renowned for their shortness and counterweighted with bronze bulbs. Officers and the Immortals had silver or gold counterweights. As a result Persian infantry were known as "apple bearers". Swords would have ranged from the akinakes (Iranian weapon of Scythian origin), xiphos, kopis, and machera. Overall they would have probably have been fairly rare except among the kardaces and elite units. Battle axes known as sagaris were a more common hand weapon.

If I may be so bold, I'd suggest my own article on Persian weapons here http://wildfiregames.com/0ad/page.php?p=1581