Lakonia Specs?

any 7lbs sword sounds like nonsense to me... Even Conan/Arnie carried an aluminum sword during most of the movie, and complained about the weight of the actual carbon steel sword. If the Muscles from Brussels got tired of a heavy sword then I'd imagine the oiled up beefcake Spartans (think 300) wouldn't like it much either.
:lol:

edit/add- unless something about the type of metal used makes it heavier than steel would be

Pure nonsense.

Spartans - AKA Lakonians or Lakedaemonians according to their home region - used the same kind of swords as other Greeks, though favoring very short ones based on anecdotal period sources from around the Persian wars.

We also have to remember that 300 is a fantasy take on an actual battle, so some artistic license was definitely involved in weapon, armor and creature design (I highly doubt most warriors would go into battle wearing what amounted to only a cape, helmet and...er, Speedo) (I will smack the first person who says the Celts )

Up until the Pelopnnesian War. Many of the Greek city states began to dispense with the heavy armor for a time(this is likely to enable a larger number of troops to be fielded as well as to deal with the greater use of peltasts). That or they began to incorporate light hoplites like the Lakedamonian Skiritai and the more common Ekdromoi. These warriors usually sported nothing more than their aspis, kranos, dori and xiphos. No greaves or body armor(thorax). Their were also the equivalent of heavy peltasts who instead of having just a pelta and javelins would carry a heavier type shield, helmet and sidearm(xiphos or kopis).

Thermopylai was 50+ years previous to the Peloponnesian War. The Spartans under Leonidas likely sported the exact panapoly as every other Greek hoplite including longer xiphoi. However, the 300 Spartiates had their helot servants with them and they typically were the equivalent of psiloi or peltasts and would be no better armed than the Persians. There were also Thespian and Theban hoplites present as well...the estimated number being somewhere around 7000 total warriors and support.

You are right though MOK. The training and armor of the Greek hoplite enabled those forces there to absorb large amounts of punishment from the Persian troops. It was also the terrain that aided them. The Persians had no way to flank them or use their cavalry arm and thus dislodge them. Truly, it wasn't until they had been flanked by the hill paths that they had to make there final stand.

I wasn't disagreeing with you about the Spartan hoplite gear....I was stating that by the beginning of the 430's BC the hoplite's gear had begun to change to meet different needs and threats. Larger and deeper phalanx formations, the threat of heavy peltasts(Iphicratids), and Light Hoplites like Ekdromoi who could be employed to flank a phalanx. All of these elements began to affect what gear was necessary versus impeding or superfluos.

Anything that I have viewed or read describes a fill profile tang(with a pommel stem to peen with in some cases) a slightly leaf shaped or pronounced leaf shape...some with ridges, grooves, mid ridge, combinations of those features or none at all. To my knowledge there are only a handful of physical finds, none of which is the famed lakonian xiphos. Only period scuplture and statuary give any notion of actual size...as well as legendary written materials. Those extant finds date from various era, most being from the Hellenistic period.

No proof of mail that early, Immortals had scale armor.

Could be. I've only read out-of-copyright translations, so I don't know what term the original texts use.

MOK, try this old forum info
www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?25289-Greek-Hoplite-Sword-500-BC-150