My son-in-law is in US Army Special Forces and one of his teammates wants me to make him a xiphos. I'd like to find out as much about this as possible before I start forging it so any help would be appreciated. It will of course not be in bronze as he wants to utilize it in modern hand to hand combat so I'll probably be making it out of H-13 tool steel or some other type of tool steel. I made my son-in-law a tomahawk out of H-13 and you can chop 1/4" rod in two with it and the blade is fine. I actually made it for him when he was going to be deployed to Iraq and I read where soldiers died in a helicopter for want of an axe so I made him one that would easily chop through the skin of a helicopter. Glad to have found this group... David Brewin

Hello and welcome to myArmoury.com. :)

Using the Search function, I found these:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=9338
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=8931

I think that it should be noted here that the xiphos was a weapon of the ancient Greek hoplite and that these warriors did not come into being until well after the end of the Bronze Age. The xiphos was never a bronze weapon.

David,
First, welcome aboard, sir! I think that Chad’s excellent offerings of links to a couple threads ought to be helpful. And while Hugh’s contribution regarding the xiphos being a weapon of the post-Bronze Age hoplite is correct, it is perhaps only so relevant in realizing the weapon that you’re looking to create. Insofar as time and opportunities permit, I would suggest that you converse with your son’s teammate over exactly what he’s thinking of and looking for (of course, if he’s currently operational, or soon to be, this may not be possible). Is he looking for a xiphos of Classical Age Greece, the weapon of the hoplites? Or, is he looking for a steel version of the swords of the Greek (Aegean) Bronze Age? In either case, a fair degree of diversity and variation of both of these weapons exist, and perhaps some forms would serve him better than others?

The following volumes may be helpful to you and your son’s teammate,

Oliver Dickinson's The Aegean Bronze Age,
http://www.amazon.com/Aegean-Bronze-Cambridge...amp;sr=1-1

Peter Connolly’s Greece and Rome at War,
http://www.amazon.com/Greece-Rome-War-Peter-C...amp;sr=1-2

Connolly's The Ancient Greece of Odysseus,
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Greece-Odysseus...amp;sr=1-1

John Warry's Warfare in the Classical World, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome,
http://www.amazon.com/Warfare-Classical-World...amp;sr=1-2


WCU's campus library catalog is showing Dickinson, Connolly's Greece and Rome at War, and Warry currently in their collections. Score! I'm sure that they can inter-library loan Connolly's The Ancient Greece of Odysseus as well, if you wished. For that mattter, I'm sure that the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva can inter-library loan any of these (and other relevant) titles, but for just reviewing and photocopying them (perhaps borrowing, too), I'm sure you can just visit WCU's library.

Below are a couple scanned images of Aegean Bronze Age swords - the first from Connolly (Odysseus), the second from Dickinson.

Good luck!
-Jess

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David,
Perhaps this thread of Kirk Lee Spencer's would be helpful to you, as well,
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ght=bronze

Cheers,
-Jess

P.S. Please post pics of the finished piece when available! :cool:

I'm starting to get some ideas now that I've had a chance to look at these blades and how they were made. I won't be starting until I have a chance to talk with my customer. I think this will be a fun project as this will really be used if there ever was some up close fighting going on. Thanks for all your help... David Brewin