Spear

Categories: Pole weapons | Projectiles | Blade weapons

Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National Park.

A spear is an ancient weapon used for hunting and war, consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft. The most common design is of a metal spearhead, shaped somewhat like a dagger.

The spear is far and away the most common type of pole weapon, and may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the lance, the halberd, the naginata and the pike. Also a bayonet mounted on a rifle forms a type of spear. Spears used for close combat require different designs than those intended for throwing. One of the most famous throwing spears is the pilum used by the Romans.

Spears, one of the earliest weapons fashioned by human beings and their ancestors, are still used for hunting and fishing. The spear survives as a military weapon in the form of the bayonet, and as a lance it was used in combat as recently as 1939 (Polish Lancers attacking Wehrmacht Armored units).

It is arguable that from the late bronze age until gunpowder weapons became commonly available the spear was the most common personal weapon (not the *ideal* source, but: http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor/atli_spear/index2.htm).

The utility and longevity of the spear in the personal arsenal of people around the world rises from several factors, among them: versatility, cost, ease of use, effect.

A spear is a versatile weapon that can be used for hunting and warfare, and in melee and as a missle. In regions of limited resources this alone was reason enough for the spear to become ubiquitous: the tool that brought down game for meals also slew animals that threatened crops and livestock also was an effective weapon in war.

A spear is a relatively low cost weapon or tool by comparison with other weapons available in the periods of the spear's greatest use. In pre-industrial societies where metals and the ability to work them are expensive materials and skills the spear was seen as "cost effective". The steel required for a sword, for example, would be sufficient to make two, three or more spear heads. A spear not only takes less metal, but does not require the same quality of material, time or ability to manufacture and the result is still a weapon of potentially lethal effect.

A spear is relatively easy to use. Again in comparison with contemporary weapons in the periods of the spear's widest use, a spear requires less training and practise to be effectively wielded. (Please note that is "effectively" not "expertly".) Modern experiments by reenactors in the United Kingdom have shown that a group of people could be trained to use spears in an effective shield wall as militia in a few weeks of part time training.

Spears are effective in several senses, some of them already mentioned. Effective in being a cost effective, relatively easy to wield weapon that could be quickly deployed to field relatively large numbers of militia. Effective in that the enemy or prey by the nature of the weapon is kept at a distance. And, finally, effective, in the sense important for all weapons: in the hands of an experienced user it is fast and lethal.

1 Symbolism
2 Types of spears
- 2.1 Spears which are not usually thrown
- 2.2 Spears usually thrown
3 External Links

[edit]

Symbolism

More than a weapon, a spear may be a symbol of power. In the Chinese martial arts community, the Chinese spear (qiāng 槍) is popularly known as the "king of weapons". The modern Regalia of many European countries include a spear as well as a sword. In ancient Greece it was a yoke of spears that had to be borne when submitting to an enemy. The Celts would symbolically destroy a dead warrior's spears to prevent their use by another.

Wotan's spear (called Gungnir) was of ashwood, made from the "World-Ash" Yggdrasil, and it may be remarkable that Chiron's wedding-gift to Peleus when he married the nymph Thetis at a wedding attended by all the Olympians, was an ashen spear (although this could be coincidental, as the nature of ashwood with its straight grain made it an ideal choice of wood for a spear).

Also in Greek Mythology Zeus' bolts of lightning can be interpreted as a symbolic spear, and some would carry that into the spear that is frequently associated with Athena, interpreting her spear as a symbolic connection to some of Zeus' power beyond the Aegis.

Another spear of religious significance was the Spear of Destiny, an artifact believed by some to have vast mystical powers.

Sir James Fraiser in 'The Golden Bough' noted the phallic nature of the spear and suggested the spear as a lance in the Arthurian Legends, paired with the Grail (as a symbol of female fertility), functioned symbolically as a symbol of male fertility.

[edit]