Birdheadhandles?

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

I have reconsidered partialy my initial thought. The weaponry depicted is both roman and non-roman. The arch was erected to commemorate the victory in Actium, in a civil war between Augustus and Marcus Antonius forces.

So, both armies are romans. :roll: The weapons are probably from legionary forces and auxilia. That facts explains why are depicted weapons clearly roman and others clearly not roman.

Ruben and Marcus Vibius:

Both you have said "Falcata are'nt period". I not agree: There are archeological atested falcatae in spanish contexts between 75-50 bC, and Julius Caesar (45 bC) talks about that weapon. So, if the arch it's 31 BC, the diference are not so great as you have pointed. :wink:

Probably we have'nt enough archeological atested militar contexts about that time to say if it's period or not. :roll:

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Lucius, in English, when you say something isnt what it is, period.

it means: something isnt what it is.

period here means the point/dot which ends a sentence[size=200:27jsyfij].[/size]

not the historical period ; from........to.......

u see?

so what i meant was that the sword depicted is not a falcata whatseoever..

:wink:

M.VIB.M.

[Crispvs]

Actually, to those of us in most of the English speaking world, that particular punctuation mark is called a 'full stop'. A period, unless you speak American English, means either an era or length of time.

Sorry to be OT on what is a rather interesting thread.

Crispvs (who used to be an English teacher)

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Whoops used Amerenglish there then!!!



M.VIB.M.

[Martin Wallgren]

Could it be some seax-like waepon simillar to this
http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic. ... light=seax

I have got my internet working again at home so heres a picture of the weapon I ment. It´s ofcourse quite much later period but anyways...

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

A parazonium then! Looks like that to me! Eagle hilt an' all! 8)

[markusaurelius]

Some late Roman swords/Spatha's had eagle head pommels. They are commonly represented on scultures of the period. Clearly listed on other sources suchs as M.C Bishop & Coulston "Roman Military Equipment" page 202.


Examples from the Venice Tetrarchs.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

:lol: :lol: That was the image I had in mind when I said Parazonium!
Too bad my memory isn't as good as a real photo! 8)

[Tarbicus]

Check out this page:
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/ymu/sqh ... limes.html

Bronzeschwert mit Adlerknauf. L. 63 cm. FO: Murrhardt, Rems-Murr-Kreis. Leihgabe des Carl Schweizer-Museums. Das Tragen des Schwertes mit Adlerknauf ist dem Kaiser vorbehalten (Abb.26).

Bronze sword with Adlerknauf. L. 63 cm. FO: Murrhardt, rem Murr circle. Loan Carl of the SchweiZer museum. Carrying of the sword with Adlerknauf is reserved the emperor (Abb.26).

This is a thumbnail, so be sure to click on it on the page above for a lovely high res image.

[M. Demetrius]

From what were these grips carved? Ivory? Bone? Wood? Metal casting?

Don't read German.

[Tarbicus]

I think they're from bronze sculptures, but we get to see a very nice depiction of an eagle headed sword in full.

[M. Demetrius]

No, I realize those were from a sculpture, but the originals they represent are what I was asking about-- from what material do we think they were made? Ivory seems a good guess, wood not so likely...the bird beaks would break off wood pretty easily. Metal cast grips are not comfortable in the hand in the way that organics are.

Egad, I dangled a preposition up there. Forgive me, please.

[Tarbicus]

Agree on the ivory option (not bone). How about wood covered in silver sheet?

[maarten]

The eagleheads as handles on swords are reserved for the emperor and his direct male family. There are several of these eagleheads known (for example on the statue in Venice and the statue of Germanicus), all from sculptures which represent the emperor, co-emperors or famliy members. Most of the are in bronze or stone, like the statue itself.

On the falcatae the heads most ofter represent horses.

Maarten

[Marcus Mummius]

Interesting theory. So you think an eagle haeded pommel couldn't be just on any tribune's sword?