Xystons and Kopides Trivia Quiz

Answer: Greece

The xyston was similar in appearance to a lance. It could be thrown overarm, as in a javelin, or held underarm when thrusting. Approximately twelve feet long, it was used by warriors on horseback. Interestingly though, this weapon had both ends sharpened, which made it different from the normal weapon of its kind. It is believed that the purpose for this was two-fold - to act as a counter-balance during battle, and also as an immediate secondary weapon should the other end break. One hopes there wasn't a dead enemy dangling on the broken end should this be the case.

Containers such as this pictured one were part of the every day life of Ancient Greece. They tell us much about that time in history. Initially the images baked into their pottery were just different wavy lines, but from those early beginnings, the Greeks then moved to designing images of human and animal figures as well. Some depict stories and myths, some portray famous battles, and some are just images of family life.

Answer: Animal sacrifice and ritual slaughter

Animal and human sacrifice is a horribly barbaric practice when considered from todays perspective - especially when we're chomping into a beef hamburger. The kopis was also used for cutting and thrusting under battle conditions in the endless series of wars that fill the annals of history of Ancient Greece. Used by warriors on horseback, one side of the blade of this weapon had a curved edge, so that when the sword was brought down upon an unfortunate foe's body, the force behind it was equivalent to that of a descending axe.

Altars such as the one pictured were used to carry out these sacrifices as a matter of course. They could range in size from the quite small to ones that were large enough to accommodate many animals at the one time. Many early cultures practised animal and ritual sacrifice, for, until they began to understand how the world about them worked, people believed it was all controlled by various myth-creators. Sacrifices were a form of supplication and appeasement to these mighty figures.

Answer: Spear

Eight wooden spears dating back an incredible 300,000 years were found in an old mine in Germany during the 1990s. They are believed to be the oldest known weapons manufactured in the world, and, because they were found in a place called Schöningen in that country, they are now known, unsurprisingly, as the Schöningen Spears. This means though, that as far back as the Palaeolithic Age, man had acquired the ability to go beyond using large rocks and sticks as weapons and hunting implements. Instead, made from spruce and pine trees, these spears were approximately six feet long and show clear evidence of rather advanced technical skills by their makers. It's hard to know whether to be impressed or saddened by these discoveries. Hopefully though, because only animal, but no human bones, were also found at this site, these weapons were used for food hunting purposes only.

Spears, as portrayed in the accompanying snap, were the most commonly used weapon of man for almost all of our existence. Used initially for hunting and foraging, they were also later used for defence and attack and in battle, and remained the popular weapon of choice right up until the advent of early firearms.

Answer: Battering ram

As portrayed in this image which depicts a group of soldiers using the weapon, a battering ram, in its basic form, was just a huge log, carried by several soldiers on either side, that was used to continually ram against any locked entrance to a structure until it burst open.

As weapons grew more and more sophisticated, the ram also evolved along with them. They were made fire-resistant, had special attachments and handles built into the sides for more secure holds, were mounted on wheels, or suspended from chain like devices from an overhead apparatus and then swung against the defences.

This last one produced more than twice the battering force of the human carried ram, and was so effective that it could even knock down solid walls. With the invention of gunpowder and the cannon ball to do the same task however, the ram had seen its day. Or had it? Bahhh, no. Oddly enough, miniature hand-held rams are still sometimes used today by members of the Police and Defence forces to butt open locked doors.

Answer: Spokes

Spokes, which have always puzzled me as to their purpose, allow the weight above the wheel to be increased, allow the more equal distribution of that weight, and prevent wheels from wobbling and flattening. The earliest wheels though were just blocks of round wood attached to the sides of carts. That was in the region of Mesopotamia. What a rough old ride that must have been. Simple round pieces of wood cut from tree trucks proved to be ineffectual for any kind of load bearing however, as they tended to split and fall apart. Within a few years, it was discovered that joining rectangular pieces of wood together and then shaping them into a circle sorted out that problem. That is such an impressive solution.

Within another 300 years the wheel-axle combination came into being in the area of Slovenia. Another leap forward of 600 years to 2,000 BC saw early spoked wheels, such as those in the accompanying image for this question, invented. Spoked wheels allowed light-weight war chariots to move about battlefields far more adroitly. Initially though the spokes simply consisted of holes being hacked out of the round wooden wheels. The ancient Celts, by 1,000 BC, then came up with the idea of placing iron rims around their spoked wheels - and there any further progress seems to have ground to a halt. It wouldn't be for another 2,800 years with the invention of rubber tyres and stronger, finer metals that wheels made another circle forward. In the meantime though, weapons and warfare had continued to advance in other areas.

Answer: Triremes

These ships, such as the Roman trireme replica pictured, were ancient seagoing vessels used mainly in the Mediterranean, where they ruled the seas there for over 300 years between the 7th and 4th century BC. The "tri" part of their name reflects the fact that each one was operated by three levels of hardy rowers on the ship. With 170 men rowing their hearts out on each vessel, this enabled these ships to become very fast, and extremely manoeuvrable, in times of warfare. On a fine day, for example, in one eight hour stretch, these men could cover almost 200 kilometres.

Apart from the skills and strength of the rowers, triremes always travelled very light, pulling in to shore every night, so that there was no need, apart from water, to stack the hull with provisions. Each man was allocated two gallons of fluid per day only. During combat at sea, the job of the trireme was to ram an enemy's ship. For this purpose, they were fitted with very effective ramming devices on their prows. At the speed each trireme could travel, if one of those pierced the hull of an enemy's vessel, it either sank, or took on enough water so that it was rendered incapable of taking any further part in a battle.

Answer: Halberd

The vicious halberd, such as the one depicted in the accompanying photograph, made its appearance on the battlefield between the 14th and 15th centuries. Particularly favoured by members of the Swiss armies, you'll see that it consisted of a deadly sharp axe blade on one end, accompanied on its facing side by a cruel hook which could be used for any other grim purpose.

The other end of its long shaft was a finely honed, vicious spike. Any enemy facing this weapon in the hands of an expert combatant was basically a goner. With the discovery of England's much maligned Richard III's skeleton under a car park in that country in 2012, and subsequent studies made of same, it is now believed that it was a halberd which sliced off the back of his head in his last fatal battle at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth.

Answer: Ballista

This perfect working construction of the ancient ballista weapon, which is on permanent display at Caerphilly Castle in Wales, England, is as deadly in its accuracy today as was the original on which it is based. A little like a large crossbow, this missile weapon could launch its pointed weapons over large distances. Many different versions of this killer, which works on a mechanism of levers and springs, have been developed over the centuries. It appears in the images of Ancient Greece warfare, again during the days of the Roman Empire, and was updated and improved over and over again from that time right up through to the Middle Ages. Considered to be the last major writer of historical events from the ancient world, here is a report of its power and accuracy during a battle, from the 6th century scholar, Procopius:

"And at the Salarian Gate a Goth of goodly stature and a capable warrior, wearing a corselet and having a helmet on his head, a man who was of no mean station in the Gothic nation, refused to remain in the ranks with his comrades, but stood by a tree and kept shooting many missiles at the parapet. But this man by some chance was hit by a missile from an engine which was on a tower at his left. And passing through the corselet and the body of the man, the missile sank more than half its length into the tree, and pinning him to the spot where it entered the tree, it suspended him there a corpse".

Answer: Flail

The two-handed flail, as shown in the pictured model, was actually an agricultural tool which was turned into an improvised weapon by conscripted peasants who were dragged off to fight for their overlords. The more sophisticated of these weapons, the one-handed variety, had vicious looking spikes embedded into a metal ball which was attached by a loose chain onto a solid handle.

It took a great deal of skill to wield these in battle. The force behind it as it descended could split an enemy's shield in two.

Heck, it could probably split the enemy in two as well. It was deadly, but because of the expertise needed to use it, appeared to be in use for only a relatively short period in the history of weaponry.

Answer: Trebuchet

The trebuchet, which works a little like a huge catapult, was so large that it could fire projectiles of 350 lbs or more at the defending walls and parapets of the enemy. Believed to be originally created by the Chinese in the 6th century BC, it eventually became a popular weapon of besieging armies right across Europe for centuries. It was the invention of gunpowder and the equally destructive cannon balls, that, along with many other early weapons, also saw the trebuchet's demise. For many years after, the secret of its construction was lost to mankind, and it is only in recent years that hobbyists and history buffs have been able to figure out its design and go about reconstructing similar machines. You'll be pleased to know, however, that these are just used for recreational purposes and historical re-enactments.

Just to give you an idea of the size of a trebuchet, the largest existing one in the world today (2014) - shown to the right - is located at Warwick Castle in England. It is sixty feet high and can easily hurl projectiles of 80 lbs over distances of 1,000 feet. Today, many other reconstructed trebuchets such as this are used in, oh dear, pumpkin hurling competitions of all things. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair".