THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE VOL.I by W.Ridgeway 1901

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The
they
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Herod,
IRON. 625
626 IRON.
This gains some support from the fact that, whilst all the
other peoples of Asia Minor carried short spears or javelins',
the Chalybes bore spears fifteen cubits long-'. It will be
remembered that the Paeonians carried long spears, probably
the prototypes of the Macedonian sarissa, that Ajax wielded a
pike of gi-eat length in the battle at the ships, whilst the large
spear was an essential part of the equipment of the warriors of
Glasinatz and Hallstatt. The long spear then seems to have
belonged to the Danubian region, and its isolated appearance
on the south of the Euxine may indicate that the Chalybes iiad
come there from Europe, and had brought with them a full knowledge
of iron, which passed with them into Armenia^ {cf. p. (Jl7).
It seems then that Greece did not owe this metal to either
Egypt, Phoenicia, or Asia Minor. Gould its kncjwledge have
passed into the Balkan from i
Scythia It is not in itself
pnjbable that the children of the treeless steppes would have
learned to work ii'on at an early date, for the scarcity of fuel
already mentioned (p. o23) would have been a great hindrance
to the smelting of iron ore. There is no evidence that the
tribes of southern Russia possessed a knowledge of iron at a
very early period. On the contrary the facts show quite the
reverse to have been the case. The Scythians had been driven
from their homes east of the C'aspian by the Massagetae
(p. 402). If they had a full knowledge of ii-on in that region
before they advanced upon the Cimmerians, it would be strange
if the Massagetae did not possess iron weapons at a later
date. Yet this is y)roved to be the case, for Herodotus says
that "in tlieir dross and mode of living the Alassag(.>tae rc'scmblc
the Scythians. They fight both on horseback and on foot,
neither method is
strange to them use bows and :
lances,
but their favourite wea]K)n
is the battK'-axe iadyapi'^^). Theii'
'Afiaplas, t)ic "A/ja/iias {Pr. V. V27\, which I ]ia\ e shewn to he perfectly coirccl
(Caml). Phil. Tniii^.. vol. ii. p. IT'.M.
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lllTlxl. VII. (il SO.
Xcll. .llKlh. IV. 7, 111.
('halyl)f's lichl ]iiut
ol' Lesser .\riiieiiiii until (ie])ii\C(l of it hy tile
Arnieniiuis (Stiiihn, ^>21).
^
The siifinris was most prohaiily an axe of some kiml, for Heroilolus
i vii.
()4) speaks of dt'i'as aaydfui. Jt cannot be the same as the (iciimccs, whicli 11.
(IV. 70) ret-'ai'ds as a se]i!iiate weapon.
arms are all either of gold or bronze. For their spear-points,
and arrowheads, and for their battle-axes, they make use of
bronze ; for head-gear, belts, and girdles, of gold. So too with
the caparisons of their horses ; they give them breastplates of
bronze, but employ gold about the reins, the bit and the cheekplates.
They use neither iron nor silver, having none in their
country; but they have bronze (copper) and gold in abundance'."
The Scythians must have experienced the same want of
iron in that country before their expulsion by the Massagetae,
and accordingly
it
may be assumed that they were using only
bronze until they invaded the land of the Cimmerians in the
seventh century
B.C. (p. 387).
This is fully confirmed by the fact that the swords found in
Scythian tombs are usually of bronze, though the sword in the
great tomb at Kertch was of iron'-. The fact that the Scythians
worshipped as their war-god an old iron acinaces'' does not at
all indicate that they had been employing iron for a very long
time, although it is quite true that iron was long excluded from
sacred uses by the Romans (who compelled the Flamen Dialis
to shave with a bronze razor), and by the oldest stratum of the
population of Greece, whose superstitions are preserved by
Hesiod^. But as the iron weapon was much the best instrument
for war, the Scythians on learning to use iron would have had
no hesitation in worshipping an iron sword as the embodiment
of the spirit of slaughter, although for other sacred purposes
they would have avoided it just as much as other peoples.
As the Scythians then were using bronze swords in the
seventh centuiy B.C., the iron swords of Hallstatt and (Jlasinatz
cannot have been derived from the short straight acinaces.
Nor indeed can it be shown that the knowledge of iron at
an early date was spread t)ver western Asia, thcjugh from the
fact that several Iranian tribes (Beluchi, Afghan, Pamir, Kui'd,
and C)ssete) have a common name for th(; metal. Schi'ader'''
IICKUI. ]. 21",.
TIki fact tliiit tlio SeytliiiUis used Ijioiizi; firrowheads (])rovt'd by Herod.
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T\-. Si and imiiicio'.is speciiiiciis from tombs) shows tliat copjier was far more
I)leiititiil
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witli tliem than iron.
iv. i\'l.
l^((/7..^, 741. I'ytlia^^oras forbade tlie poking of the lire with iron.
Op. lit., p. 'JOH.
Ii.
JO