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![(Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …
[Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]](/web/20100419033120im_/http://www.britannica.com/static/bps-static-content/20100409-1618/images/darwin/shared/spacer_htc.gif "(Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …
[Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]"){kind=small}
(Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum](Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum](Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]
(Top) Hand guard for a sword, shakudō (copper and gold alloy) and other metals, by …[Credit: Photograph by Veronika Brazdova. (Top) Victoria and Albert Museum, London, M. 66-1914, Church Gift; (bottom, left and right) Victoria and Albert Musuem, London, M.155-1924. Marcus Gift.]
![(Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …
[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]](https://web.archive.org/web/20100419033120im_/http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/53/9153-003-9072342C.gif "(Top) Viking sword, (centre) Roman sword in scabbard, (bottom) Bronze Age sword; in the British …
[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]"){kind=small}
preeminent hand weapon through a long period of history. It consists of a metal blade varying in length, breadth, and configuration but longer than a dagger and fitted with a handle or hilt usually equipped with a guard. The sword became differentiated from the dagger during the Bronze Age (c. 3000 bce), when copper and bronze weapons were produced with long leaf-shaped blades and with hilts consisting of an extension of the blade in handle form. By Roman times the hilt was distinct from the short, flat blade, and by the Middle Ages the weapon had acquired its main
... (100 of 431 words)
Aspects of the topic sword are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
The "most romantic of weapons," the sword has been the symbol of war and the badge of honor and courage among fighting men since the days when bronze and iron were first hammered into blades. The right to carry a sword has almost always been a mark of rank. Even today, when most of its usefulness has passed, the sword remains part of the dress uniform of army and navy officers throughout the world.
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