Sarissa sauroter weights and measurements

[richard robinson]

My friend and I are embarking on fabricating our own saroters for sarissas. He has observed that the "mace" shaped one is late hellenistic (I had never noticed this before- possibly because Minor Markle III had these made up for a doco he was involved in some years ago).
My friend believes that the bronze one found with "MAK" inscripted on it is more appropriate for an Alex period sarissa.
However neither of us have been able to track down serious weights, dimensions and measurements- and i am asking the collegia here whether they can assist in this matter.
Thankyou in advance.
Richard

[richard robinson]

Thanks for looking.
Have just been googling and
RAT has come up trumps over the rest of the 'net'
Found a lot of useful information in the Sauroter Revisionism thread from 2 years ago
Thanks in hindsight
richard

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Hello Richard.
I disagree with your theory that the sarissa would have such a style of sarauter. The shape and size of the mentioned sarauter is typical of the late classical period and regularly depicted in grave stones as belonging to a hoplite spear.
It is wrong to believe that the Macedonian army had any lack of typical hoplites fighting with typical spears and shields. In fact, high rank officers even after Alexander's death were being burried with hoplite shields and short spears with various shapes of spear heads.
That said, the sarissae probably had a small sarauter, not much bigger than the typical dory sarauter, but they had tapered shafts. They were most probably made of iron, which is the case with the majority of hellenistic sarauters.
One of the "mace" shaped sarauters found in Vergina had a great portion of the shaft still in the socket, and parts of it stuck also in the heads. It had a very significant taper.
Khaire
Giannis