The plentiful supply of this strategic material allowed states to produce enormous quantities of reliable weapons cheaply. Five hundred times more prevalent in the earth’s surface than copper, iron was commonly and widely available almost everywhere. No longer were civilizations dependent on copper and tin deposits to make their bronze weapons. The importance of iron in the development of classical warfare lay not only in its strength and ability to hold an edge, but also in the widespread availability of iron ore. The invention and diffusion of iron smelting, cold forging and tempering created no less than a military revolution in the classical world. Within a few centuries the secret of tempering was discovered and diffused, and iron became the basic weapon material for all the armies of the period.
Iron weapons were superior to bronze weapons because they were heated and hammered into shape rather than cast, making them stronger, less brittle and more reliable than their bronze counterparts. By the beginning of the first millennium bce, the secret of iron metallurgy and cold forging had spread to Palestine and Egypt by way of the nomadic invasions, and perhaps to Mesopotamia as well. Iron was first utilized as a technology of war around 1300 bce by the Hittites.
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