Ancient Military Weapons

Ancient military weapons came in many shapes and sizes, and some were peculiar to a period. The sling, for example, was one of the most popular projectile weapons of the era, but was rarely seen among the armies of Europe or the Near East after the Dark Ages. The sword changed a great deal between the early bronze examples of Egypt and the iron Roman spatha. However, all ancient military weapons share one aspect in common: they were all tools for improving on the destructive power of human muscle.

Muscle Power

There is one thing that all the weapons of the ancient world had in common--they were entirely reliant on muscle power to make them work. When comparing the effectiveness of a sword versus a human fist, it is best to look at the latter as a simple machine that magnifies the power of human muscle, because the source of energy for both the sword and fist are the same: human muscle. The same is true of projectile weapons. As finely crafted and ingenious a weapon as the Hunnic bow is, it is still entirely dependent on human muscle, and therefore just a magnification of the same forces that are behind a thrown rock.

Bronze and Iron

Technological evolution in this period was therefore about creating better ways to apply human muscle power, and much of that advance was bound up in better materials. The early metal weapons of ancient history were made out of bronze, simply because the technology did not exist to smelt tougher metals. Bronze is effective up to a point, but is soft and does not keep a point or edge very well. A major revolution in ancient world materials took place when iron smelting technology became widespread in the Near East in the middle of the second millennium B.C. From that point forward, iron became the principal metal for weapon-making, and eventually for armor as well. For example, the ancient Greek hoplite infantry took the field with swords and spear points made of iron, but helmets and armor made of cheaper bronze. The later Imperial Roman legionary had a kit of helmet, armor, sword and javelin points based entirely on iron.

Spears and Javelins

Arguably the principle weapon of the ancient world was the simple pointy stick, the humble spear. The spear allowed a warrior to remain protected behind a shield and stab at the enemy from a distance of at least a few feet. It was also cheap, so for many armies and tribes it was the primary weapon. This weapon took a variety of forms over the centuries. The ancient Greeks, for example, outfitted their hoplite infantry with one-handed spears that were roughly 9 feet long, tipped with a flat iron spearhead, and balanced by a ball-shaped bronze ball with a spike at the other end. The Macedonians later evolved this spear into their sarissa, the famous pike that needed two hands to wield, could reach 20 feet in length, and was tipped with a 3-foot iron spearhead. A common misconception is that the spear was for throwing. A one-handed spear could be thrown, but they were usually too heavy and not well-balanced for this purpose. The throwing spear was the javelin, and these were frequently employed as hard-hitting, short-to-medium range projectile weapons. The Romans developed a famous javelin called a pilum, which had a narrow-necked iron point that bent or broke after impact, preventing the javelin from being thrown back on the battlefield.

Swords

Sword designs varied a lot in the ancient world. Throughout the period, they were frequently shorter than the sword of the popular imagination, and for a long time they were expensive to boot. Compare the amount of metal in even a small 18-inch blade with that of a spearhead or axehead, and the source of that expense becomes obvious. The ancient Egyptians had swords, but most of their infantry were equipped with spears and axes. The ancient Greek xiphon had a 20- to 25-inch long blade, and was often either curved or widened near the tip, and was treated as a side arm for a warrior who had lost or broken his spear. The Romans were among the first armies to use the sword as the main hand-to-hand weapon, and they employed the gladius under both the Republic and the Empire. This was a short, 30-inch long stabbing sword with a wide blade that they copied from Spanish tribesmen. Nothing like the slashing long sword that was so common in the Middle Ages appeared in general use until the Romans introduced the spatha during the early Imperial period.

Bows

The bow was a popular projectile weapon in the ancient world, and the pinnacle of bow-making technology was the composite bow. A limit on a common bow is that to achieve greater draw strength and propulsive power, the bow must be lengthened and/or made out of stuff that is ever-stronger, but also retains flexibility. The composite bow solved this problem by using multiple materials that were glued over a wood core. Bone and horn increased the strength of the bow, while animal sinew gave it flexibility. This allowed a bow-maker to create a hard-hitting bow in a small package. Unfortunately, they needed to be kept dry out of fear that the glue holding them together would dissolve. Composite bows were widely used in the Near East, but are arguably most identified with the Huns.

Slings

At least as popular as the bow in the ancient world was the sling. Slingers were present in the army of the ancient Egyptians, and most of the other kingdoms and states that followed them. These were basically ropes with a pocket tied to one end, and placed inside the pocket was an almond-shaped stone or lead bullet. Trained slingers could get their entire bodies behind a good throw, generating enormous power. Curiously, the sling did not make it out of the ancient world as a military weapon. Medieval Europe continued to use it for hunting, but not as a battlefield weapon.

References

• A History of Warfare. John C. Keegan (1993).
• Armament And History: The Influence Of Armament On History From The Dawn Of Classical Warfare To The End Of The Second World War. J.F.C. Fuller (1998).