international journal of military history and historiography 40 (2020) 7-49 IJMH brill.com/ijmh The Combat Archaeology of the Fifth-Century BC Kopis: Hoplite Swordsmanship in the Archaic and Classical Periods Thomas O. Rover University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, usa
[email protected] Abstract ‘Traditionalist’ scholars of historical Greek warfare assert that hoplites formed a close- order formation that moved slowly and deliberately to overwhelm its enemies. Op- posing them the ‘revisionists’, claim that hoplites fought in an ‘open-order’ formation resembling Homeric combat well into the Archaic and even early Classical periods. Existing studies of the physical remains of Greek arms and armour, iconographic rep- resentations of hoplites in combat, and literary descriptions of Greek warfare are not decisive. Combat archaeology, i.e. the reconstruction and testing of arms and armour, remains a largely untapped source of evidence. This article presents the results of an experimental archaeological reconstruction of the kopis, a curved sword used in Greek combat from the mid-sixth to fourth centuries BC. A more complete understanding of the use of the kopis sheds light on the realities of hoplite combat and offers strong support for the traditionalist position. Keywords Hoplite – Experimental Archaeology – Kopis – Makhaira – Sword – Archaic – Classical – Greek Introduction The scholarly field of ancient Greek warfare is divided. It should perhaps come as no surprise that even the scholarship of war engenders profound conflict. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/24683302-20190001Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 10:38:07PM via free access <UN> 8 Rover For the past several decades, the community has argued extensively over a ba- sic question: in what formation did hoplites fight? There are two main posi- tions, which I have termed the ‘traditionalist’ and the ‘revisionist’.