How did the ancients carry swords?

I have explained why the strategy, tactics, weapons and shooters of ancient wars could not play a decisive role in ancient times. Starting from this article, I try to make a comprehensive exposition of them.

After the destruction of Mycenae civilization, Dorians introduced iron weapons to Greece, but the beginning of ancient military history began with the invention of bronze armor. Because it is the bronze armor that makes the heavy infantry appear, and it also makes the unguarded infantry in Dorian era become history (unguarded soldiers are almost the symbol of barbarian troops). In addition, bronze armor gave the Greeks the opportunity to achieve extraordinary military achievements, which began with the fear of soldiers on the battlefield.

A soldier is afraid of two things: first, he can't hurt the enemy; Second, they can't resist the enemy's attack. Please remember these two fears. There are three reasons why you can't hurt the enemy: First, you can't see the enemy. There were no invisible weapons in ancient times, so we couldn't see the enemy. It only appears when the mobility gap between the two sides is too large. Second, your own weapons can't reach the enemy. For example, the range of the bow and arrow is not as far as the enemy, because the spear is not long enough. It is also in this category that a person is stabbed before stabbing the enemy. Third, you can't penetrate the enemy's protective equipment after hitting. In ancient times, morale had a great influence on the outcome, so the psychological effect of weapons was also very important to evaluate their overall effectiveness.

In the 8th century before the appearance of bronze armor, the living world of the Greeks was quite narrow. At that time, on the east coast of the Mediterranean, the Greeks began to have commercial conflicts with the Phoenicians, but it was not serious enough to be solved by force; The barbarians in northern Greece have not yet gone south, but the ocean in the west is very calm. In this way, the weapons of the Greeks were mainly used on their own people. The geographical conditions in Greece determine what weapons the Greeks choose-colonial needs and convenient shipping conditions, and give priority to the development of naval equipment; Narrow terrain is not conducive to large-scale maneuvering, and there is no room for cavalry and double-horse chariots to exert their power. In this way, only shooters and infantry can compete to become the main arms in army equipment.

At that time, the bows in Greece were similar to those in West Asia, and a small number of compound bows and a large number of synthetic bows and single bows constituted the main equipment of archers. There are also riprap belts and guns. There is no doubt that these weapons can seriously hurt soldiers who have no protective equipment or poor protective equipment. For them, bows and arrows are terrible weapons, because under the same mechanical force, there is no way to fight archers without bows and arrows, so it is not difficult to understand that nations with poor protective equipment always attach importance to bows and arrows.

The cure for archery phobia is metal armor. In addition to the unknown situation of the two rivers in the early days, Egypt was equipped with copper scales in the era of the new kingdom, and then in the Assyrian Empire, iron scales were generally equipped. So it is not difficult to understand the source of Assyrian courage. Assyrians with good armor have achieved great success (but this kind of thing may not succeed, as will be mentioned below). The situation in Greece is different, which may be due to the understanding of the physical common sense that the thin-shell arc-shaped hard structure has a good effect of dispersing external forces, or it may be because the processing of iron armor pieces is not well mastered, and the Greeks chose the whole copper armor. Greek bronze weapons have always been of high quality. As early as the palace era in Crete, a bronze sword nearly one meter long was cast. In Mycenae's time, bronze armor consisting of large decks appeared. Now, they have created the best bronze armor: the whole bronze breastplate. This kind of armor is not complicated to make. The basic shape is casting, then forging and then heat treatment (quenching and annealing of bronze). But it will be too difficult to implement! The thickness of the Greek breastplate is very thin, generally less than 2mm. In order to be comfortable and beautiful to wear, and to unconsciously use the arc structure of thin shell, it is generally made to simulate the shape of human chest and abdomen muscles, while the helmet must be cast in the shape of a human head. Casting such a thin armor is a great test for the mold, and its forging and heat treatment require very high skills. In this way, it is not surprising that Greece has only tens of thousands of heavy infantry. It's strange that so many people can wear such exquisite bronze armor!