Iphicratian Pelte & Pelte Sarrisophoron

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Haha,this is very true,the laconian sword appears to have had a blade of about 30cm. A big kitchen knife that means! I haven't seen that many swords of the particular period,but those I have seen-from any period including bronze-hellenistic age,include swords of the same shape and form in a vast range of dimentions. I Phillip's tomb in vergina I saw swords with blades from 40-60 cm and all could be put in the "xiphos" category. The same in Thessaloniki museum. So the statement that he double the sword lengh is a bit odd? Did all the Iphicrateans previously have the same length of sword? And did he provide them uniform one sized swords?
But as Paul sayd,at that time the laconian sword appears more frequently in art,so what he might want to say is that he favoured the longer versions of the xiphos.
Khaire
Giannis