spear, a pole weapon with a sharp point, either thrown or thrust at an enemy or prey. It appears in an infinite variety of forms in societies around the world.
One of the earliest weapons devised by man, the spear was originally simply a sharpened stick. Primitive peoples used spears primarily as thrown weapons. When military practice evolved from the independent action of individuals to the group movements of masses of soldiers, the spear became a thrusting weapon. It took the form of the pike, the lance, and later the ax-bladed halberd, among other variations. The spear-carrying phalanx, or massed formation of closely ranked men, was used by Sumerian armies as early as 3,000 bc. Two thousand years later the Greeks refined the concept, using pikes 6 to 9 feet (2 to 3 m) long. Around 350 bc, Philip II of Macedon introduced the sarissa, a pike 13 to 21 feet (4 to 6.5 m) long that gave the Macedonian infantry an extra reach before the pike blades of the opposing Greeks could reach them. These close formations of men marched or ran toward their opponents bristling with spear points, which they then thrust into the enemy’s line. Alexander the Great used sarissa-equipped infantry to conquer his huge empire.
Roman legionaries used the pilum, a heavy seven-foot-long javelin. Foot soldiers were not the only ones to use spearlike weapons. Greek, Macedonian, and Roman cavalry and the mounted knights of the European Middle Ages all carried lances. Pole-arms and tactics evolved along these lines until the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, when soldiers used elaborate pikes like the halberd—a combination spear with a point, an ax-blade for cleaving helmets, and a hook for pulling armoured knights off their horses. The masters of pike warfare in this period were the Swiss, who were employed as fighters by various European monarchs. Then the introduction of gunpowder weapons gradually rendered the pike, lance, halberd, and other pole-arms largely obsolete. The modern bayonet attached to a rifle, however, may be considered a thrusting spear. See also halberd; lance; pike.