The acinaces, also transliterated as akinakes ( Greek ) or akinaka (unattested

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

''*akīnaka^h'', Sogdian ''kynʼk'') is a type of

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

or xiphos (short sword) used mainly in the first millennium BCE in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, especially by the

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

and Caspians, then by the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

. The acinaces, of Scythian origin, but made famous by the Persians, rapidly spread throughout the

ancient world Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

. The Romans believed that this weapon originated with the Medes. The acinaces is typically in length and double-edged,Blair, Claude and Tarassuk, Leonid, eds. (1982). ''The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms and Weapons''. p.17.

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. . and although there is no universal design, the guard may be lobed with the hilt resembling that of a bollock dagger, or the pommel may be split or of the "antenna" type. The scabbard – as much as anything else – defines the acinaces, and usually has a large decorative mount near the opening, allowing it to be suspended from a belt on the wearer's right side.

Identification

Ancient texts say very little about the acinaces, other than that it was a type of "Persian sword". Because of this, authors writing in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

throughout history tended to equate the word with whatever type of weapon the contemporary Persians were using. Thus, it is frequently used in

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

texts to mean scimitar or the like, a meaning it still retains in scientific Latin. Paulus Hector Mair even goes so far as to translate '' dussack'' as ''acinaces'', because it is curved like a scimitar, and likewise in the works of

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

authors describing Japan, ''acinaces'' is used for

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

. However, the Persian shamshir is a relatively recent weapon, and did not exist in antiquity. The Achaemenid-era Persians made use of more than one kind of sword. Ancient Persian art typically shows the king's bodyguards and important

nobles Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

wearing ornate diagonal daggers. Greek art, on the other hand, frequently shows Persian soldiers using the kopis. One must therefore do some research to figure out which type is the acinaces. One useful bit of evidence is that Greek and Roman texts sometimes mention the acinaces being given out by the king as a sign of favor. This would tend to point to the dagger. A

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

use of ''acinaces'', offered as a gift to the sea by the Persian king Xerxes, is also mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(''History'', VII, 54), in the ritual contrition scene following the episode known as ''Flagellation of Hellespont''. A very revealing passage is found in

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

' ''Jewish Antiquities'' 20.186, where the weapons used by the sicarii are described: This also seems to indicate that it is the dagger which is properly called the acinaces though there are those who deny this, translating the above passage as " concave like the Roman sica".

Gallery

Image:Darius-Vase.jpg,

Darius the Great Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

holding an acinaces in his lap File:National Meusem Darafsh 6 (48).JPG, Acinaces, National Museum of Iran File:Akinakes of Scythians VII-V c bC.png, An iron-made Scythian acinaces Image:DecoratedWeapons.JPG, Golden akinakes, Tillya Tepe, 1st century AD

References

External links

Akinakes
{{Swords by region Edged and bladed weapons Ancient Near East weapons Daggers Middle Eastern swords Iranian inventions Iranian martial arts Weapons of Iran

Identification

Gallery

See also

References

External links