12-10-2008, 03:24 PM
The mention that Crispvs makes of pugio's falling out of scabbards is very likely from the fact that many are made with solid bronze handles, and also that many have the tang completely in the shape of the handle. This indeed makes them very top heavy, when I have made these weapons in the past I have done them with a semi hollow handle and only a 1/4" thick tang that is only around 2"long. With reference to the four rings on the Pugio scabbard there is a mention by Suetonius concerning Galba leaving Spain on his way to Rome, he tells us that he set off wearing his dagger hanging from his neck just before his breast. It would appear that Galba had his dagger on a baldric, however what Suetonius does not go on to say is if there were two straps going from the bottom rings around his chest to anchor the dagger. This is some thing that I have often wondered about just how the Senators carried theirs and stopped them from rattling under their Togas on the day they got Caesar Just a thought on the four ring business.
Brian Stobbs
