"But what are you going to do when you catch me?" Silence above. He sounded silly to himself. He lowered himself down the rock. "What are you going to do-?" From the top of the towering rock came the incomprehensible reply. "Roger sharpened a stick at both ends." Roger sharpened a stick at both ends. Ralph tried to attach a meaning to this but could not. He used all the bad words he could think of in a fit of temper that passed into yawning.
From The Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
The hoplite spear, used by the Ancient Greek heavy infantryman, known as a hoplite, from the mid 7th century BC through to the 4th century BC, was the archetypal "stick sharpened at both ends" having a large iron spearhead at one end and a heavy bronze spike at the other. We might very well be puzzled, just as young Ralph was, as to why a weapon like the hoplite spear should have two sharp-ends. The answer lies in understanding that a weapon is a tool, designed to do a particular job in a particular way, and that the form of a particular weapon reflects its intended function. The two ends of the hoplite spear are different shapes and made of different materials because they were intended to perform different functions, and these differences can provide us with important clues about what it was like to be on the sharp-end of a hoplite battle.
Because of it's curved blade a leaf-shaped spearhead would cut when pulled out and when pushed in. (actual size: 35cm x 4.5cm)
The design of the hoplite-spear was remarkably stable over several centuries, with only minor local or individual variations during that time. The spear was usually about six feet long, just a little taller than the average Greek of that period. It had a wide leaf-shaped iron spearhead, usually attached to the shaft by a tapered socket at the base of the spearhead. The other end of the spear was capped with a heavy bronze butt-spike, usually long and thin. This design is closely associated with the hoplite style of warfare and forms one of the three essential elements of the panopla, the 'full-kit' of the hoplite warrior: the hoplite-spear, the great round hoplite-shield, and the hoplite-helmet.
The spearhead of the hoplite-spear varied in size and shape to a small degree, but never differed greatly from the general pattern. The blade was usually 30-35 centimetres long, around 4.5 centimetres wide, and had two sharp edges that curved to maximum width in the middle and tapered back towards the socket. It was almost always made of iron, and as such was strong and held a sharp edge well but was brittle and would snapped if snap if bent too much. The shape was excellent for cutting flesh. There is a general principle used in forensic pathology which says that a weapon cannot make a stab wound smaller than the width of its blade. By that reasoning a fully inserted hoplite spearhead should make a wound at least 4.5 centimetres across and 15 centimetres deep. If the victim twists or turns, or the weapon itself is manipulated in the wound, then the wound is likely to be considerably largely. Also we should note that the leaf-shaped blade is edged even on the taper behind the maximum width ' this means that it can cut when drawn in either direction, so that even as the spear is withdrawn it would widen the wound. By virtue of its size and its shape the leaf-shaped spearhead would inflict large gaping wounds that would be life threatening in almost any circumstance.
Leaf shaped spearhead
This type of spearhead does have limitations, however. Most notably it would have great difficulty penetrating armour. The sheer width of the blade presents the first problem: a warrior would have to punch a slot at least 4.5 centimetres wide in the bronze armour of his opponent, and do this in one strike with muscle power alone. The iron used for the blade would also have been a liability for although it was harder than bronze it was also brittle and could easily have been snagged or caught in the armour and snapped off by the weight of the victim, a problem that is even found today with certain types of steel bayonet. The leaf-shaped spearhead was simply too wide and too brittle to effectively cut anything other than unprotected flesh, and this is reflected in the evolution of hoplite protective armour, for over the course of the 5th century BC the heavy bronze hoplite breastplate became unpopular and was replaced with a lighter corselet made of layers of linen stiffened in linseed oil.
At the other end of the shaft from the leaf-shaped spearhead the butt-spike was found. This was a long slender spike, 30-40 centimetres in length, usually with a square cross-section, made of cast bronze. It is believed to have served several functions. Firstly it was used to stand the spear in the ground when it wasn't being used, and for this reason the Greeks called it a sauroter, which literally means 'lizard-killer'. Secondly the butt-spike may have served as a secondary weapon if the spearhead broke off ' an event that was reasonably common in the heat of battle, as Herodotus and Thucydides attest. Thirdly, and most interestingly for our discussion, it was supposedly used by the men standing behind those at the front, who were doing the actual fighting, to finish off any fallen enemy that the phalanx walked over as they rolled forward. In this capacity it would have performed very well, because the long thin profile and square cross-section of the sauroter indicate that it was designed to penetrate armour. The corners of the square cross-section would have been efficient metal-cutters, forming notches in the metal as the point hit which then tore open as the spike was inserted, peeling back the armour as it went. The use of bronze made the spike more likely to bend than break, it was just as deadly with a slight kink in it, and it could easily be straightened later. Six inches from the tip it was still only half an inch wide, meaning that only a small hole had to be punched through the armour to admit a substantial length of spike.
Sauroter
A comparative examination of the Roman pilum supports the idea that the sauroter was designed to pierce armour. The pilum was the standard spear of the Roman legionary, and in many ways could not be more different to the hoplite-spear. Firstly, the pilum was thrown, making it a form of javelin. It was shorter than the hoplite-spear, and the iron head was only weakly attached to the shaft by means of two iron tongues and a pair of pins, rather than the sturdy socket arrangement of the hoplite-spear. This was a deliberate choice: one of the pins was made of wood and easily snapped under the shock of the pilum hitting its target, causing the shaft to flop around awkwardly and eliminating the possibility that it could be thrown back by the enemy. The pilum, therefore, was a one-shot stand-off weapon, in stark contrast to the hoplite-spear, which was a close-quarter duelling weapon. When we look closely at the head of the pilum, however, we see the same square cross-section and slender profile of the sauroter. Because the pilum was thrown from a distance the weapon had to have the capacity to penetrate first time whatever it hit – be it shield, breastplate, or bone. Both the pilum and the sauroter share the same characteristics that make them specialised tools for piercing armour.
Roman Pilum Head
The leaf-shaped spearhead is generally regarded as the 'business end' of the hoplite-spear, and almost all ancient vase-paintings depict warriors using the spearhead rather than the sauroter in the heat of combat. We have already discussed the reasons why the sauroter was better at penetrating armour than the leaf-shaped spearhead, and in light of this it is relevant to ask why the hoplite warriors stubbornly duelled with spearheads, each looking for a patch of bare-flesh to strike at, when the sauroter might simply have powered through the opponent's protective armour. The answer, I suspect, comes down to stopping-power. Toe to toe, in the heat of close combat, the wounds inflicted by the spearhead were more likely to instantly incapacitate the enemy than the deep but narrow puncture wounds of the sauroter. The deep, wide gashes caused by the spearhead were likely to bleed profusely; more than one major blood vessel would be likely to be involved; tendons and nerves would probably be severed. When the fighting was close, and the opponent was on his guard, the stopping-power of the spearhead would be greatly valued. If the situation changed, however, and the opponent was on the ground, wounded or unarmed then the hoplite warrior could take the expedient option of plunging the sauroter straight through the protective armour. The victim might take seconds or minutes to die, but for the attacker the strike would only take a moment and then he could move swiftly on to the next encounter.
The hole made in armour by a leaf-shaped spearhead (4.5cm across)
The hole made in armour by a sauroter (2cm diagonally)
Inside of armour peirced by a sauroter showing how armour is 'peeled' open.
