Parazonium

[hoplite14gr]

The term parazonio means "near the belt" or "by the belt".
In Byzantine texts it is refered as paramerio -means "near the thigh" or "by the thigh".
Most ancient sources speak of ΕΓΧΕΙΡΙΔΙΟ-encheiridio
It means literaly something that you have in your hand.
Most examples are Bronze age period. We can assume that tradition was important and the shape was retained.
Some examples from Dodona-unfortuantely not displayed to the general public are dated later.
There some potery examples if you search really hard.
If memory serves me right it is Plutarchos that mentions that Philip was murdered with a ΚΕΛΤΙΚΟ ΕΓΧΕΙΡΙΔΙΟ which implies that a mumber of the things were aquired by trade or loot.
It was the weapon of the psiloi and we can only speculate that it was used as a backup weapon or for "sneacky" work!
Kind regards