Ca. 1200-700 BC. Western Asiatic/Aegean. A bronze sword with an elongated, leaf-shaped blade whose raised midrib bifurcates at the base of the blade. The conical handle is beautifully decorated with ropework bands and openwork geometric patterns and ends in a convex, disc-shaped pommel. Good condition, beautiful patina; custom-made stand included. Bronze weaponry production flourished in Western Asia, the Aegean, and mainland Greece from the 2nd millennium BC to about 700 BC, when it was gradually replaced by iron. Swords, spears, and arrows were important symbols of war in Greek Bronze Age societies and served as powerful reminders that authority rested in the hands of those who could earn it. For more information, see Moorey, P. R. S. (1971). Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Size: L:465mm / W:78mm ; 890g. rovenance: Property of a North London gentleman; previously acquired on the UK/European art market in the 1980s.