S-Words

Classical Greek hoplites follow this general formula, which I have dubbed the “Kiss Ass” theory.

Keep
It
Simple
And
Stabby
Stupid

Classical Greek armies are not full of professional soldiers. They're full of farmers and craftsmen who don't have the time to learn all about how to fight. Spears go one way: in. Its petty easy to operate a spear. However, spears break, and because you can't carry a bunch of extra eight foot spears, a short sword was carried as a back up. Due to the amateur nature of the hoplite armies of classical Greece, a heavy focus was placed on using equipment with little training. Give them something complicated and they're just as likely to cut a part of themselves off as stab another person.

Swords like a rapier or a broadsword or a claymore or katana or whatever are for people who know what they are doing. People who practice with the sword and know all manner of silly things and moves with different names and plenty of room to use them in. To the Greek mentality, this was for girls. A man is born knowing how to stab, why learn something else and complicate the situation?

A side note: all this talking about Greeks inserting and “stabbing” has no relation to penises. None. No way.

Greek hoplite swords are often mistakenly referred to as “Xiphos”. This is actually not quite accurate. The Xiphos is a unique Spartan sword, shorter than normal, and usually double bladed. But for casual conversation (if you have casual conversations about swords, please consider your lifestyle choices) Xiphos works fine.

Usually 19-24 inches long with a single edge, a Greek short sword was generally short, stabbing weapon. Because there was not a lot of room in a hoplite phalanx to swing a sword or duel, basically what you want is a big ass knife. Hoplites generally carried this sword slung under the arm, where it could be easily grabbed with the right arm in the thick of combat.
Like a spear blade, these swords often had a rib in the center of the blade to keep them from breaking, but as they were often made of bronze or iron, they had a disturbing tendency to do so.

One reason why the sword was a secondary weapon – it can be assumed that not everyone carried them, was that they were expensive. The Greeks were, despite some notable exceptions, a pretty poor people. Working metal requires the energy to mine all the metal, a smith that knows what he is doing to work it so it is not crap, and quite frankly, a lot of metal. Its a pretty significant investment to make one. A spear, with significantly less metal in it, is much cheaper. A pole with a little metal on each end is much easier to make and maintain. If a spear breaks, it will most likely the wooden shaft, which is easier to replace. A sword that breaks, it takes much more to replace it.