ander, wishing to picture an enemy in a despicable light, represented them armed with javelins and slings. The Acarnanians, however, were proud of their skill in managing it, and were surpassed by the Achæans alone, of all the Greeks, who even vied with the natives of the Balearic Islands; and so expert were these last, and of such importance did they consider the sling, that the principal care of a parent was to instruct a boy in its use: and it has been affirmed that, in those islands, young children were not permitted to taste their food until they had dislodged it from a beam with the sling. This unpleasant alternative does not appear to have been imposed on the more fortunate sons of an Egyptian family, nor was the same consequence attached to the sling as to the bow and many other weapons.

Besides stones and arrows, the Greeks threw leaden plummets from the sling, called μoucoides or μολυβδιναι σφαιραι, which were of an elongated spherical shape, or, rather, like an olive, pointed at each end, frequently with three or four sides; sometimes weighing as much as an Attic pound, or one hundred drachms. Some had a single or winged thunderbolt represented upon them; and others bore the name of the person to whom they belonged, or a word, as AгONIE, or AEZAI,-"Take this."

Similar plummets were generally used by the Macedonians; those of the Achæans were simple round pebbles found on the sea-shore, where they were in the habit of practising the sling: and the Egyptians employed round stones for this purpose,

which they carried in a small bag, hanging from a belt over the shoulder. *

The Egyptian sword was straight and short, from two and a half to three feet in length, having apparently a double edge, and tapering to a sharp point. It was used for cut and thrust; but on some occasions they held it downwards, and stabbed as with a dagger. The handle was plain, hollowed in

No. 37.

Stabbing an enemy.

Thobes.

the centre, and gradually increasing in thickness at either extremity, sometimes inlaid with costly stones, precious woods, or metals; and the pom

mel of that worn by the king in his girdle was frequently surmounted by one or two heads of a hawk, the symbol of Phrah, or the sun, a Pharaonic title given to the monarchs of the Nile. Strictly speak

ing, the short sword, so worn, should come under the denomination of a dagger, which was also a common Egyptian weapon, as is proved by those found in the excavated ruins of Thebes. It was much smaller than the sword: its blade was about ten or seven inches in length, tapering gradually in breadth, from one inch and a half to two thirds of an inch, towards the point; and the total length, with the handle, only completed a foot or sixteen inches. The handle, like that of the sword, was generally inlaid*: the blade was bronze, thicker in the middle than at the edges, and slightly grooved

* Vide also wood-cut at end of Chap. III. fig. 7.

in that part; and so exquisitely was the metal worked, that some of those I have examined retain their pliability and spring after a period of several thousand years, and almost resemble steel in elasticity. Such is the dagger of the Berlin collection, which was discovered by Sig. Passalacqua in a Theban tomb; and, in noticing it, I avail myself of the opportunity of acknowledging his kindness, which has enabled me to introduce a representation of it, in the actual state in which it was found, en

The handle is partly

closed in a leathern sheath. * covered with metal, and adorned with numerous small pins and studs of gold †, which are purposely shown through suitable openings in the front part of the sheath; but the upper extremity consists solely of bone, neither ornamented, nor covered with any metal casing: other instances of which

* Wood-cut, No. 40. fig. 2.

Like the swords mentioned by Homer:

σε ξιφος αργυροηλον χαλκεον.” Ι. π,

135.;

and
T, 372.

have elsewhere been found*, offering, in this respect, remarkable exceptions to the usual inlaid handles of Egyptian daggers †, already noticed.

The knife was also shorter than the sword, and had a single edge, intended only for cutting, as was the falchion, a species of ensis falcatus. This last was called Shopsh, or Khopsh; and the resemblance of its form and name to the xonist of the Greeks suggests that the people of Argos, an Egyptian colony, by whom it was principally adopted, originally derived that weapon from the falchion of Egypt. It was more generally used than either the knife or the sword, being borne by light as well as heavy armed troops; and that such a weapon must have inflicted a severe wound is evident, as well from the size and form of the blade as from the great weight it acquired by the thickness of the back, which was sometimes cased with brass, the blade itself being of bronze or iron. §

Officers as well as privates carried the falchion; and the king himself is frequently represented in close combat with the enemy, armed with it, or with the hatchet, battle-axe, pole-axe, or mace. A simple stick is more usually seen in the hand of officers commanding corps of infantry, though we cannot

* Vide also wood-cut, No. 1. page 23., a dagger in Mr. Salt's collection.

+ Another dagger with a simple unornamented handle is given in the wood-cut at the end of Chap. III. fig. 3.; but I am not certain about its

date.

Q. Curtius says, " Copides vocant gladios leniter curvatos, falcibus similes, quibus appetebant belluarum manus." lib. 3. conf. Apul. Metam. lib. 11. " copides et venabula.”

§ From the colour of those in the tombs of the kings, we may conclude iron or steel. Vide plate 3.