Spatha, cAD300

[Renatus]

'Gladius' is just a generic word for sword - so a spatha was a form of gladius. In modern usage, the word tends to be used to refer to the shorter legionary swords of the republic-principiate era

I am entirely with you on this and that the concept of gladius as a short sword is a modern convention. However, one has to bear in mind Tacitus, Annals 12.35, 'gladiis ac pilis legionariorum . . . spathis et hastis auxiliarium', 'the gladii and pila of the legionaries . . . the spathae and hastae of the auxiliaries'. I know that this is almost certainly a false dichotomy but it does seem to indicate that the two terms could have been viewed as subtly different.