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A Sports Dispute Started the Cuban Missile Crisis and Other Odd Facts

Khalid Elhassan October 28, 2019 31 min

2nd – 4th century BC Iberian falcata. Metropolitan Museum of Art

10. The Sword That Scared the Romans the Most

The falcata was a Celiberian single-edged sword, with a curved blade that narrowed towards the middle. It was derived from Iron Age sickle-shaped knives, and became best known for its use by the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars against Rome. It featured a hook-shaped grip made of the same piece of metal as the blade, often stylized in the shape of a bird or horse, with a chain connecting the hilt and the hooked butt of the grip.

The design, with the blade swelling towards the tip, gave the falcata extra mass up front. It thus combined the speed and mobility of a sword with the cleaving or chopping power of an ax at the front. The falcata could hack off spear shafts, shatter inferior swords, and deliver tremendous blows capable of splitting shields and helmets.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.