Xiphos

The xiphos is a double-edged, one-handed straight shortsword carried by ancient Greek armies during the Iron Age, typically 45 to 60 centimeters long, though Spartan warriors favored blades as short as 30 centimeters. Its leaf-shaped blade suited both cutting and thrusting, and the design descended from the Mycenaean Naue II sword as Greek metallurgy shifted from bronze to iron during the Archaic period. Greek hoplites carried the xiphos as a secondary weapon, drawing it only after their primary spear, the dory or a javelin, was lost, broken or thrown, a role that made it a battlefield backup rather than a soldier's weapon of first choice.