Evidence for Eagle Hilted Swords

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I find it very plausible, considering how these swords were worn, and it is a reasonable technique to replace it in the scabbard, but that is my belief....

[Thersites]

See... Hadrian Thassos

D*mn!!! No way! Let's wait for Jasper.

It is a sword, if I ever saw one. And he's not really placing it back in its scabbard, he's holding the sword -in a way- as if he were holding a scepter... In fact the weapon is a sort of scepter, a symbol of power.
But the object itself is a sword, although I'm not so sure double-headed raptor hilts were real or just a matter of iconography. But I should think it probably copied actual examples of the type.

[Thersites]

Pompeii

[Thersites]

Hadrian

[Thersites]

A reconstruction showing how the Lucentum statue probably looked like:

[Paullus Scipio]

I can vouch for the peculiar way of holding the sword between two fingers upside down too......I know I have seen other examples besides those Thersites posted. It may be simply a case of one imperial sculpted pose being copied by others, or else there may have been some significance to it, like the way in which the paludamentum was worn......

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

See... Hadrian Thassos

D*mn!!! No way! Let's wait for Jasper.

It is a sword, if I ever saw one. And he's not really placing it back in its scabbard, he's holding the sword -in a way- as if he were holding a scepter... In fact the weapon is a sort of scepter, a symbol of power.
But the object itself is a sword, although I'm not so sure double-headed raptor hilts were real or just a matter of iconography. But I should think it probably copied actual examples of the type.

OK, the pictureyou posted shows the hilt pointing upwards, which is confusing, and made me think of replacing the sword in a scabbard. But there you go, it is a sword... and there is a picture of one with the same double head on it! :wink:

[Thersites]

I chose that particular image because I wanted to emphasize the sword hilt, and in that position it is more easily seen, but I agree it can lead to confusion regarding overall appearance.

But please, look carefully at my post (caption)... the last image is a reconstruction of how the statue from Lucentum probably looked like. No exxamples of double-headed raptor hilts were known from Roman contexts before this piece

[AntonivsMarivsCongianocvs]

Ave,

The statue fragment that was found in the forum of Lucentum, with the double eagle, is unique but... it is from antiquity. I would venture to guess that there could have been other styles... just not found yet.

All those examples above appear to be a high ranking officer/Emperor holding a Parazonium in heroic fashion. The method of holding the sword or parazonium with the handle down and the scabbard up is very typical and seen in many examples for hundreds of years.

When you walk with the sword or parazonium, the Hellenistic disk at the end of the scabbard naturally sits tight on your shoulder and your arm naturally moves back and forth… this gives the style a look of a scepter.

I strongly believe that they are holding short Hellenistic style swords (aka Parazoniums), those were swords.

Here’s a recreation that I did… although I still need to make a paludamentum





Since I already have an eagle's head on my Gladius sword, I chose to make my Parazonium based on the more traditional Hellenistic style; modeling mine on the Parazonium of General Germanicus Caesar. This is the original statue and mine together... I got pretty close, not perfect but... eh, pretty close. :roll:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hmmm, thats what I get for flicking through pictures when I should be working...... :oops: OK. But it is odd because I am sure I saw such a hilt somewhere before your posts...... :roll:

[Thersites]

If you remember where I'd be most grateful!

[Caius Fabius]

I have photos of pieces of an eagle hilted sword from the statue of the emperor at Aalen, Germany, and photos of an emperor holding a eagle hilted pommel from one large Italian museum.

[C. Apollonius Priscus]

I visited the Getty Villa in Malibu a couple of weeks ago and took a few photos of a Greek eagle-headed hilt from a tombstone of 200 B.C. The sculpture is not overly detailed.

[C. Apollonius Priscus]

And two more:

[Celtic505]

So far I've seen examples of eagle and lion head hilts with the eagle facing horizontal, vertical, and even a double headed eagle. Does the way the eagle faces, or the amount for that matter, represent anything or symbolize anything about the wearer? Anybody know why or have any ideas?