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Ancient Warfare Podcast

AWA227 - How long was the Macedonian Sarissa?

Ancient Warfare Podcast

The History Network

Society & Culture, Greece, Warfare, Ancient, Rome, History, Military

4.4631 Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bill sent Murray this question, 'how long was the Macedonian Sarissa? I've read a lot about 20' and sometimes longer'. 

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with Murray.

0:11.2

We're going to have a look at a couple of questions, well, one question this week and then

0:14.7

another one for next week. And of course you can ask a question. These two have come through

0:19.0

for email. So obviously when I asked and put my email out there, people have answered.

0:24.4

So I've got a question from Bill, which is right up my alley, which is essentially how long was the Macedonian Sarissa?

0:33.3

I've read a lot about 20 feet, but sometimes longer.

0:36.9

So that's the question I'm going to answer in a moment.

0:40.2

But prior to that, of course, you can ask us a question.

0:43.4

You can also support us on Patreon.

0:45.1

You just have to go to patreon.com forward slash ancient warfare podcast,

0:49.3

and you can back us at one of three levels.

0:51.7

You can be a legionary, an Optio, or indeed a centurion,

0:56.4

even get a copy of the magazine digitally or in print. Now, the length of the Macedonian

1:02.3

Sarissa is fascinating because we have several sources which tell us a different length, and

1:09.2

that leads to an immense amount of confusion.

1:13.0

Of course, we are dealing with something that was made of wood, Cornelwood,

1:18.2

and that seems to be the wood of choice, and none of that survives, obviously, in the archaeological record.

1:26.3

So we basically have blades and saratis, the butt spike of the Sarissa.

1:34.6

And one find has a metal tube, which is a controversial thing by itself, because it's a single find.

1:40.3

It's normally said to be a sleeve to join two halves but there's no other evidence no literary

1:45.5

source talks about two halves uh no other archaeological bind has sort of corroborated that so that's a

1:52.6

controversial thing so the length is of course uh what we've asked about so the serissa is of course

...

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