SWORD
60
SWORD-DANCE
Ancient Esryptian Daggers.
1, stuck in the belt ; 3. Without the shenth ; 3. In the sheftth ; 4. Back of the sheath.
middle than at the edges, and slightly grooved in that part; and so excuiisitcly was the metal worked that some retain their pliability and spring after a period of several thousand years, and almost resemble steel in elasticity. Such is the dagger of the Berlin collection, ■which was discovered in a Theban tomb, together with its leathern sheath. The handle is partly covered with metal, and adorned with numerous small pins and studs of gold, which are purposely shown through suitable openings in the front of the sheath; but the upper ex- tremity consists solely of bone, neither ornamented nor covered with any metal casing. Other instances of this have been found ; and a dagger in Mr. Salt's col- lection, now in the British Museum, measuring eleven and a half inches in length, had the handle formed in a similar manner. There was also a falchion called shopsk, or khopg/i, resembling in form and name the ko- TTu-, or chitpper, of the Argives, reputed to be an Egyp- tian colony. It was more generally used than the sword, being borne by light- as well as heavy-armed troops; and that it was a most efficient weapon is evi- dent as well from the size and form of the blade as from its weight, the back of this bronze or iron blade being sometimes cased with brass (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, i, 358).
3. Assyrian swords, like the sceptres, as seen on the monuments, were often richly decorated. The hilt was generally ornamented with several lions' heads, ar- ranged to form both handle and cross-bar. The scab- bard or sheath was elaborately embossed or engraved (Layard, Nineveh, ii, 234).
Ancient Assyrian Sword.
1. The hilt; 2. End of the sheath.
4. The Greek and Roman sword {gladhis, ^l<poc, poet, dop, (paayavov, a glaive, by the Latin poets called ensis) had generally a straight two-edged blade, rather broad, and nearly of equal width from hilt to point. The Greeks and Romans wore them on the left
Classical Swords and Daggers.
o. Greek ; b. Roman ; c. Ancient, but uncertain ; d. Dacian.
side, so as to draw them out of the sheath {vagina, ko- Xeoc) by passing the right hand in front of the body to take hold of the hilt with the thinnb next to the blade. The early Greeks used a very short sword. Iphicrates, who made various improvements in armor about B.C. 400, doubled its length. The Roman sword was larger, heavier, and more formidable than the (ireek (see Smith, Diet, of Antiq. s. v. "(iladius"). The swords of the most ancient times were made of brass or copper, hardened bj^ some process now unknown ; and this con- tinued to be the case long subsequently with the Greeks and Romans, as well as among the Phoenicians (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note at Numb, xxxi, 8).
5. The sword is the symbol of war and slaughter (Lev. xxvi, 25; Isa. xxxiv, 5 ; Rev. xix, 17, 18), of di- vine judgment (Deut. xxxii, 41 ; Psa. xvii, 13 ; Jer. xii, 12; Rev. i, 16), and of power and authority (Rom. xiii, 4). The Word of God is called " the sword," i. e. the weapon or iustrurhent, of the Spirit (Eph, vi, 17).
Modern Oriental Swords and Daggers.
8 snbre ; c. Turkish sabre; d. Dafjper Albanian dirk; /. Yalanhan of a do- er ; g. Janizary's dagger ; h, Bedawin
a. Syrian sabre; b. Syrian dervish' of" the prince royaf of Persia ; e. mestic of the Turkish grand vizi Arab's dagger and sheath.
SWORD, Brothers of the, was an order of knight sword-bearers, founded at the beginning of the 13th century in Livonia; hence the order was sometimes called Livonian Brethren of tlie Sword. In 1237 the Order of the Teutonic Knights amalgamated with them, and they together gradually subdued all the territories surrounding the Gidf of Riga. (See illustration on op- posite page.)
Sword-dance, in Hinduism, is a religious dance performed by Hindu bayaderes who have dedicated themselves to some deity, and involving the display of great skill. Swords are fastened, edge upward, to two long poles, which are inclined against a wall so as to form two half-ladders. The bayaderes ascend these and dance on them, assuming the most graceful attitudes, and displaying inimitable skill and grace of bodily form. While the art of dancing on such vibrating blades may be exceedingly difficult, the reward of the dancers is correspondingly great, so that they are not unfre(|uently enriched by the receipts from a single per- formance.
SWORDS
61
SYCAMINE
Sword Brother.
Swords and a ducal cap are blessed on Christmas eve, at the midnight mass, by the pope, in order to be sent to favored kings, as Edward IV, 1478; Henry VII, 1505; Henry VIII. 1517. The last gift of this kind was made by Leo XII to the due d'Angoiileme in 1825. — Walcott, Sacred A rchceol. s. v.
S^wormstedt, Leroy, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Maryland Oct. 4, 1798. When eighteen years of age he professed conversion, and was licensed to preach Jan. 2, 1818. His entrance into the itinerant work was through the Ohio Conference in August, 1818, He was ordained deacon in 1820, and elder in 1822. In 1830 he was ap- pointed presiding elder, and occupied that office until elected assistant agent of the Western Book Concern. After filling this position for eight years, he was elected principal agent in 1844, and continued to be such until 1860, when he took a superannuated relation. After this he declined rapidly in health, and died Aug. 27, 1863. Mr. Swormstedt was a man of vigorous health, scrupulously punctual, an energetic and methodical preacher, and a rigid disciplinarian. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1863, p. 144.