Spear
A spear is an ancient
weapon used for
hunting and
war, consisting of a shaft, usually of
wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft. The most common design is of a metal spearhead, shaped somewhat like a
dagger.
Spears were arguably one of the most common personal weapons from the late Bronze Age until the advent of
firearms. They may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the
lance, the
halberd, the
naginata and the pike.
Encyclopedia
A
spear is an ancient
weapon used for
hunting and
war, consisting of a shaft, usually of
wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft. The most common design is of a metal spearhead, shaped somewhat like a
dagger.
Spears were arguably one of the most common personal weapons from the late Bronze Age until the advent of
firearms. They may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the
lance, the
halberd, the
naginata and the pike. One of the earliest weapons fashioned by human beings and their ancestors, it is still used for hunting and fishing, and its influences can still be seen in contemporary military arsenals as the
rifle mounted
bayonet.
Spears can be used as both melee and ballistic weapons. Spears used primarily for thrusting tend to have heavier and sturdier designs than those intended exclusively for throwing. Two of the most noted throwing spears are the javelin thrown by the ancient Greeks and the
pilum used by the
Romans.
History
Archeological evidence suggest that wooden spears were used for hunting 400,000 years ago. By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points. From 280,000 humans make complex stone blades, which eventually will provide blades for spearpoints later on. By 50,000 years ago there was a revolution in human culture, leading to more complex hunting techniques.
Usefulness
The utility and longevity of the spear as a universal personal weapon rises from several factors, including versatility, cost efficiency, ease of use and effect.
A spear was a relatively low cost weapon or tool compared to other weapons available in the time of the spear's greatest use. In pre-industrial societies, where metals and the ability to work them were expensive, the spear was seen as "cost effective". The steel required for a sword, for example, would be sufficient to make two, three or more spear heads. A spear not only takes less metal, but does not require the same quality of material, the same amount of time, or the same level of skill to manufacture; the result is still a weapon of potentially lethal effect.
A spear is relatively easy to use. Again, in comparison with other weapons in the periods of the spear's widest use, a spear requires less training and practice to be effectively wielded. Modern experiments by reenactors have shown that a group of people can be trained to use spears in an effective shield wall as militia in a few weeks of part time training.
Spears are effective in several senses, some of them already mentioned. It is effective in being a cheap, relatively easy to wield weapon that could be quickly manufactured in large numbers, can be used at a considerable distance from the target and, in the hands of an experienced user, it is fast and lethal.
Despite what many people think, the spear attacks by one hand losely holding it and the other slideing it.
Symbolism
More than a weapon, a spear may be a
symbol of power. In the
Chinese martial arts community, the Chinese spear is popularly known as the "king of weapons". In
ancient Greece it was a yoke of spears that had to be borne when submitting to an enemy. The
Celts would symbolically destroy a dead warrior's spears to prevent their use by another.
Livy records that the Romans and their early enemies would force prisoners to walk underneath a 'yoke of spears', which humiliated them. It has been surmised that this was because such a ritual involved the prisoners' warrior status being taken away. In the early Roman armies the first two lines of battle, the hastati and principes, fought with javelins, while the elite triarii who formed the final line fought with spears.
Odin's spear was of
ashwood, made from the "World-Ash"
Yggdrasil, and it may be remarkable that
Chiron's wedding-gift to
Peleus when he married the nymph
Thetis at a wedding attended by all the Olympians, was an ashen spear .
Also in Greek Mythology Zeus' bolts of lightning can be interpreted as a symbolic spear, and some would carry that into the spear that is frequently associated with
Athena, interpreting her spear as a symbolic connection to some of Zeus' power beyond the Aegis.
Another spear of religious significance was the
Spear of Destiny, an artifact believed by some to have vast mystical powers.
Sir
James George Frazer in
The Golden Bough is a wide-ranging comparative study of mythology [i] ...
noted the phallic nature of the spear and suggested the spear as a lance in the Arthurian Legends, paired with the Grail , functioned symbolically as a symbol of male fertility.
Types of spears
Spears which are not usually thrown
- Aunurgith
- Awl pike
- Barchi
- Boar spear
- Bohemian ear spoon
- Chimbane
- Contus
- Dung
- Falarica
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Spears usually thrown
- Angon
- Assegai
- Ballam
- Bandang
- Bhala
- Bilari
- Budiak
- Cateia
- Chimbane
- Contus
- Do-War
- Egchos
- Enhero
- Fal-feg
- Falarica
- Framea
- Gravo
- Golo
- Granggang
- Hak
- Harpoon
- Hinyan
- Hoko
- Huata
- Irpull
- Ja-Mandehi
- Jaculum
- Jarid
- Javelin
- Jiboru
- Kasita
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- Kamayari
- Kan-Shoka
- Kannai
- Kapun
- Kiero
- Kikuki
- Koveh
- Koy-yung
- Koyuan
- Kujolio
- Kuyan
- Laange
- Lance-Ague
- Lanza
- Lama-pe
- Leister
- Mahee
- Makrigga
- Makura Yari
- Mandehi liguje
- Máo
- Mkukt
- Mongile
- Mongoli
- Mu-Rongal
- Nage-Yari
- Nandum
- Nerau
- Paralyser
- Patisthanaya
- Pelta
- Pill
- Pillara
- Pilum
- Plumbatae
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- Sang
- Sangkoh
- Sanokat
- Saunion
- Shail
- Shanen kopaton
- Siligis
- Short spear
- Simbilan
- Sinan
- Sligi
- Soliferrum
- Spiculum
- Su Yari
- Sudanese lance
- Tahr Ruan
- Tao
- Tawok
- Telempang
- Vel
...
Te yariTirrerTjunkulettiTombakTschehoutaTumpulingWainianWallunkaWi-ValliZagaye |
Famous Spears
See also
External links
- Anglo-saxon spear forging")
