That thing looks rediculous....lol.<br>
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I bet the spear he used was quite basic looking. Your typical leaf shaped point, socketed over a simple wooden shaft. <p>Magnus/Matt<br>
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Not so ridiculous, Matt..<br>
The spear head seems to have been 'embellished' but, if we'd remove the gold foli and some components attached by wire. perhaps an early mediaeval spear head would appear...<br>
If not a late Roman one...<br>
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Aitor<br>
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This was the subject of a tv documentary over here in the UK last year<br>
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From one of the reviews:<br>
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Quote:</em></strong><hr>British metallurgist Robert Feather has decoded some of its secrets. He addressed old beliefs with 21st century X-ray diffraction and fluorescence tests to reveal structure and composition, swab checks for organic material (like blood), and other noninvasive procedures â€â€
This looks like a germanic spear. I'd say 5th/7th centuries AD.. Maybe ceremonial..<br>
Besides the religious mumble jumble, did someone seriously studied that weapon?<br>
The thread decoration is typically germanic. The strange thing is that the blade seems to be made in to parts joined by this gold sleeve.<br>
Broken then repared at a later date when it was turned into a relic? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=antoninuslucretius@romanarmytalk>Antoninus Lucretius</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://lucretius.homestead.com/files/Cesar_triste.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 4/6/04 1:32 pm<br></i>
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Hi Conal,<br>
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You are certainly correct about how it looks, yet this is artificial. If I remember the documentary correctly, the blade of the spear was probably late Roman or from shortly after Roman times.<br>
The core was chiselled out, to receive a new core, to which Roman material was added. This may have been a nail from earlier times. Popular legend of course believed this was a nail from the true Cross, but it might also have been a 'later' relic from th 4th c. AD.<br>
During Carolingian times, wings were added to the spear, and extra blades, all bound with leather (and later silver?) threads. These blades are marked with brass crosses, as it the added core, and all may signify older relics added to the metal.<br>
Henry IV (1050-1106) added a silver band with an inscription,<br>
first mentioning the nail from the True Cross.<br>
Charles IV added in 1354 the golden sleeve visible today.<br>
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As a relic, this object seems to have 'grown'. Liutprand of Cremona first mentioned this relic as the Holy Lance in 961, but the Longinus-connection came only much, much later. First added was the Late Roman St. Maurice, 'commander' of the Theban legion, which was spawned its own flood of legends. Only after the Carolingian period was Longinus named as the first owner of the spear.<br>
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Longinus, btw, is sometimes said to have been a German (which I doubt), but he is said to have been blind- well, in one eye!<br>
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Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=vortigernstudies>Vortigern Studies</A> at: 4/6/04 4:03 pm<br></i>
Hi Caius/thom here. While I dont claim to be an expert on type of stuff however this Spearhead really looks like the type the Franks used fom the 5th to 9th Century. I have a book on this time period and this is very simalar type of spearhead . In the time period of Jesus, Roman Auxillares would have used a Hasta type of spear head. My 2cents Caius <p></p><i></i>