The ancient Roman army was not only famous around the world for its discipline, thanks to the strength of each soldier, but also for its extremely formidable military weapons. One of them is the Gladius sword.
The ancient Roman army was not only famous around the world for its discipline, thanks to the strength of each soldier, but also for its extremely formidable military weapons. One of them is Gladius – the legendary weapon of Rome.
First, where did Gladius come from?
Gladius – legendary Roman weapon.
At some point around the 3rd century BC, Rome suddenly found itself in a dispute with… well, almost every other country. One of the pieces of land they conquered was the Iberian peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal). While the Roman soldiers were busy playing tricks throughout the newly conquered lands, they also paid attention to the sword of the Spaniards.
That sword was Gladius Hispaniensis. This sword is inherently beautiful, elegantly designed, with 2 blades and 1 point. In general, it is quite similar to the Greek Xiphos sword (although the xiphos is only a second choice after the famous spears). However, the Romans did not think so. They saw the great potential of these swords, and so…
Sword xiphos
“Okay, this one’s fine. We’ll steal it.”
They took these swords back, tweaked them a bit, and created a sword with a “slim waist” – the body bulges a bit in the middle. The weight distribution is skewed towards the tip which helps the sword. sword that could slay like a butcher, approaching the level of the infamous falcata sword also from Spain. But while the falcata had only one blade, the new Roman sword had two, and 1 more spike.
The new Roman sword had two, and one more point.
Flexibility becomes key. This Roman sword can be used for both stabbing and slashing.
And with a length of about 60cm, users can wear the Gladius bar on the hip on the same side as the dominant hand and still draw it quickly. This was quite important for the Roman soldiers, who did not want to accidentally cut their comrades when drawing their swords horizontally. Because of the great combination of quality and ease of use, the bars Gladius scored the most points in the slaying contest of all the other weapons of antiquity.
This Roman sword can be used both for stabbing and cutting.
Since about 200 BC, the Gladius has been the standard weapon of Roman infantry, associated with the conquests of the ancient Roman empire. The saying “Gladius for the vici!” (Gladius to the conqueror!) was born from there. Around 168 BC, the Macedonians experienced Gladius having his arms and legs amputated at the Battle of Pydna.
Around 200 BC, the Gladius became the standard weapon of Roman infantry.
The actual Gladius swords looked different because the Romans used many variations of it. Along with the development of the Roman Empire, in different regions the Gladius sword was modernized in different ways: the Gladius sword in Pompeii was shorter, while the Gladius sword used in England was shorter. thinner.
Gladius in different regions.
Later, these swords even became the basis for the creation of Spatha, the famous sword of the Roman horsemen.