The menaulion or menavlion (Greek: μεναύλιον), also menaulon or menavlon (μέναυλον) was a heavy spear with a length of 2.7 to 3.6 metres with a thick shaft, used by the Byzantine infantry as early as the 10th century AD, against enemy heavy cavalry. To give it increased strength, whole oak or cornel saplings were preferably used. These were then tipped with a long blade of ca. 45–50 cm. In his work De Ceremoniis, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus orders great numbers of menaulia to be produced.