Though, as has already been observed, iron and even steel were not unknown in the days of Homer, both seem to have been of considerable rarity, and it is by no means improbable that, as appears to have been the case with the Egyptians, the first iron used by the Greeks was of meteoric origin. I have elsewhere[63] called attention to the possible connection of the Greek name for iron (σίδηρος) with ἀστήρ, often applied to a shooting-star or meteor, and with the Latin Sidera and the English Star, though it is unsafe to insist too much on mere verbal similarity. In an interesting article on the use of meteoric iron by Dr. L. Beck,[64] of Biebrich on the Rhine, the suggestion is made that the final ηρος of σίδηρος is a form of the Aryan _ais_ (conf. _æs_, _æris_). Dr. Beck, however, inclines to the opinion that the recognition of certain meteorites as iron was first made at a time subsequent to the discovery of the means of smelting iron from its ore. The self-fused mass or disc of iron,[65] σόλον αὐτοχόωνον, which formed one of the prizes at the funeral games of Patroclus, may possibly have been meteoric, but this is very doubtful, as the forging of iron, and the trouble and care it involved, were well known in those days, as is evident from the epithet πολύκμητος so often bestowed upon that metal. For a considerable time after the Homeric period bronze remained in use for offensive weapons, especially for those intended for piercing rather than cutting, such as spears, lances, and arrows, as well as for those which were merely defensive, such as shields, cuirasses, helmets, and greaves. Even swords were also sometimes of bronze, or at all events the tradition of their use was preserved by the poets. Thus we find Euripides[66] speaking of the bronze-speared Trojans, χαλκεγχέων Τρώων, and Virgil[67] describing the glitter of the bronze swords of some of the host of Turnus. Probably, however, the use of the word χαλκὸς was not restricted to copper or bronze, but also came in time to mean metal in general, and thus extended to iron, a worker in which metal was, as we have already seen, termed a χαλκεύς. The succession of iron to bronze is fully recognised by both Greek and Latin authors. The passage in Hesiod,[68] where he speaks of the third generation of men who had arms of bronze and houses of bronze, who ploughed with bronze, for the black iron did not exist, is already hackneyed; nor is the record of Lucretius[69] less well known:— “Arma antiqua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt, Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami, ... Posterius ferri vis est, ærisque reperta, Sed prior æris erat quam ferri cognitus usus; ... Inde minutatim processit ferreus ensis, Versaque in opprobrium species est falcis ahenæ, Et ferro cœpere solum proscindere terræ.”