I have elsewhere noticed the Thracian Sword. Dr. Evans[937] mentions
the fragment of a remarkable bronze blade from Grecian Thera; it has a
series of small broad-edged axes of gold, in shape like conventional
battle-axes, inlaid along the middle between two slightly projecting
ribs. The same author, speaking of the beautiful bronze Sword in the
Berlin Museum, reported to have been found at Pella in Macedonia,
mentions the suspicion that it may belong to the Rhine Valley.[938]
Ancient Illyria has transmitted the Roman Gladius to comparatively
modern ages. Bosnian tombs of Slavs, Moslem, and Christian, show the
short straight thrusting Sword, with simple cross-bar and round pommel.
It looks as if it had been copied from some classical coin.
[Heading: _THE OLD KELTIC SWORD._]
The ancient cemetery at Hallstadt in the Salzkammergut, occupied by the
Danubian-Keltic Alanni or Norican Taurisci, is especially interesting
for two reasons. It shows the Bronze Sword synchronous with the Iron,
and it proves that the change of metal involved little of alteration
in the form and character of the weapon. This, however, was to be
expected, as both were adapted for the same purpose—the thrust, not the
cut. Of the twenty-eight long Swords, six were of bronze, nineteen
of iron, and three with bronze hefts and iron blades; there were also
forty-five short Swords, iron blades with bronze or ivory handles.
The blade, about one mètre long, is leaf-shaped, two-edged, and
bevel-pointed. The small and guardless grip of 2·5 centimètres, when
made of bronze, meets the blade in a hollow crescent, like the British
Sword in the Tower, and is fastened with metal rivets. The pommel is
either a cone of metal or a crutch with a whorl ending either arm.
[Illustration: FIG. 283.—GERMAN OR SLAV SWORD. (From a bas-relief,
Halberstadt.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 284.—SCRAMASAX FROM HALLSTADT. (Jähns.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 285.—DANISH SCRAMASAX. (Ninth Century, Copenhagen.)]
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