From the Caspian to the Aegean, from the Caucasus to the Carpathians. The circulationof the “long-sword” in the second millennium BC

Abstract

Bronze swords with a thin and long blade which is generally over 60 cm and can reach up to 120 cm, often called “rapiers”, were found in second millennium BC elite graves over a wide geographical area from the Persian Talysh to the east, to the Aegean to the west. The paper will discuss the geographical and chronological distribution of these objects, which are strongly symbolic and can be connected to the ideals of a rising warrior aristocracy, with a special focus on identifying the routes and ways of diffusion of such ideals, and their possible antecedents, over the northern sections of the Near East and beyond these.Bronze swords with a thin and long blade which is generally over 60 cm and can reach up to 120 cm, often called “rapiers”, were found in second millennium BC elite graves over a wide geographical area from the Persian Talysh to the east, to the Aegean to the west. The paper will discuss the geographical and chronological distribution of these objects, which are strongly symbolic and can be connected to the ideals of a rising warrior aristocracy, with a special focus on identifying the routes and ways of diffusion of such ideals, and their possible antecedents, over the northern sections of the Near East and beyond these.