Roman sword found on the River Lugg at Bodenham

[Anonymous]

Roman spatha found- pictures on the url below (couldn't get it to post the image- sorry!) The dimensions are useful for re-construction?<br>
Regards<br>
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Paulus<br>
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www.herefordshire.gov.uk/...header=yes<br>
2nd-3rd century.<br>
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A Roman spatha, or sword, similar to the military gladius but heavier and longer. It was worn by the Roman infantry on the left side, suspended from a baldrick whose length was adjusted by a row of buttons. These swords developed from native types but were generally adopted by the Roman infantry in the third century AD.<br>
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This remarkable find turned up in the River Lugg at Bodenham last Summer 2003. It has only recently been identified by the British Museum and the Royal Armouries in Leeds.<br>
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The finder, Mr.Jarvis, discovered the sword whilst cleaning mud from his boots after walking his dog. His first thoughts were that it was an old iron hoop from a wooden barrel, then he started to wonder if it was something more exciting.<br>
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He brought it to Hereford Museum for an opinion and after several months of research and enquiry it was identified as a sword, most likely to be of Roman date. The landowner, and therefore owner of the sword, is delighted with the discovery. He has very kindly agreed to let the museum keep it so that it remains in the public domain.<br>
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Spatha are rare finds in Britain. It is one of only eight in the country, most of these were recovered from Roman military sites or graves. The only other Roman sword that, like the Bodenham sword, may be classed as ‘accidental loss’, is a gladius found near Chichester. The Bodenham sword is close in size to an example from Augst in Germany.<br>
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The reason for the curve on the sword is unknown. The length and smoothness of the bend argues against the idea of ritual damage prior to river deposition, but does not exclude the possibility.<br>
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Dimensions: Length 77.5cm<br>
Blade length: 66.0 cm<br>
Tang length: 11.5cm<br>
Width of blade (30.3cm from tip): 3.82cm<br>
Estimated width across shoulders: 4.06cm<br>
Blade thickness: c.0.39cm<br>
Tang thickness: 0.66cm<br>
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(Donated, June 2004, to be accessioned 2004-54)<br>
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Article updated on 29 Jun 2004 3:39 pm<br>
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Brian Byron's drawing of the sword:<br>
This drawing shows various elevations of this interesting find.<br>
Article updated on 29 Jun 2004 3:40 pm<br>
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[Goffredo]

Experts! Is it sure the spatha was a native development only copied by the romans? Or was it a roman development?<br>
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I feel that the spatha could very well have been an entirely roman development, maybe, in origin a cavalry weapon that became popular with the infantry.<br>
A gladius is a relatively short (of variable shortness) good for close quarter fighting of relatively large set aggressive battles. The small formation (vexillations), flexible and consequently somewhat less aggressive fighting that became more and more the norm required less and less the older tactics. Tactics resembled more often than not that of the auxilliaries. A longer sword was more useful in unpredicatable situations.<br>
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The fact many weapons (and spathas) found in germanic graves are roman farbrication makes me think. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=goffredo>goffredo</A> at: 7/10/04 3:44 pm<br></i>