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Salvete!
I have this weird idea that most Late Roman spathae had one or more fullers and hilts like classic Pompeii gladii. I can only find pictures of Late Roman spathae from manufacturers like Deepeeka and Albion or posts from other people on RAT. The Albion Decurio is my romantic idea of what a Late Roman spatha should look like, although I am not sure how historically accurate it is. Most of the pictures I see on RAT look like dark-age swords to me. So were there some spathae with Oakeshott style blades? And what materials would the hilt be made out of and what shape would they have been on a 4th century spatha? Also would Late Roman spathae be the same for both infantry and cavalry, or would calvalry ones have something like a rounded tip?
AVLVS GALERIVS PRISCVS-Charlie Broder
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There are many varieties of blade and hilt-form in Late Roman spathas. Some hilts did resemble earlier Roman sword hilts, both spatha and gladius. Unless a sword is found in an archaeological context, say associated with horse harness, of obvious cavalry origins it is impossible to assign a cavalry or infantry origin to it. It is unsafe to ascribe swords with hilts dissimilar from earlier Roman types to non-Roman manufacture (archaeological deposition factors taken into account). The Romans, along with the Persians and Germanic peoples, seem to have been reacting to and copying elements from Steppe (Sarmatian etc.) sword designs at much the same time.
Fullers are just one way of producing a lightening of blade weight without compromising strength/resilience. Use of a medial rib, and hollow grinding a diamond cross-section blade are other methods.
Martin
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Some interesting Late Roman sword hilts are illustrated in two ivory diptychs, both c. 400AD.
Emperor Honorius:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...us_406.jpg
Flavius Stilicho:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...iptych.jpg
Both have bar-like guards and 'bar-and-ball' pommels. They are unlike typical earlier Roman hilts (though somewhat similar to the 'ring hilted' swords).
They remind me of this steppe style sword - possibly hunnic:
http://www.royalathena.com/media/Medieval/GL0901.jpg
Martin
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Thanks for the info guys!
AVLVS GALERIVS PRISCVS-Charlie Broder
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Yes, there is no provenance for the alleged Hunnic sword I linked to, but it is the only sword I have seen with even a vaguely similar pommel shape to the diptych images.
The other leaf of the ivory shows Honorius bearing an eagle-headed sword with, apparently, no guard:
http://40.media.tumblr.com/9cdc36e81878b...1_1280.jpg
I think that all the swords shown in the ivories are of Roman manufacture, but with differing levels of steppe influence. The very full wide grips, which swell towards the guard, look like a feature not commonly seen on attested Sarmatian or Hunnic swords.
Martin
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Quote:The swords from Illerup, Nydam and Podlodow in Poland have Roman blades,
I realise that this may take us down a bit of a rabbit hole, but isn't this just an assumption?
I've studied the Danish bog blades at some length and with the exception of one blade which has a well executed 'Mercury' figure inlaid in it, I see no evidence that the blades are of Roman manufacture.
Given that the vast majority of pattern welded blade finds of the late imperial period are from the Barbaricum, is there any real evidence that these blades are of Imperial manufacture or indeed that the fabricae were producing decorative pattern welded blades at all?
"Medicus" Matt Bunker
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