Pompeii Gladius

[Doc]

I was looking at Erik Konig's site when I came across a pompeii gladius he made. I must say I had not seen one like that before. It is the one with the green scabbard, the silver and bone hilt and the disks all along the front of the scabbard.

Does anyone have a picture of the original scabbard. I know that the leather color as well as the hilt are matter of preference (I know there is evidence for silver hilts).

However, I just would like to see a picture of the original so that I can see what those concentric circled disks look like as well as to the identity of the figures on the decorative plates since I cannot make out the ones on Konigs site.

I would also like to see what the cross bands and guttering look like.

I am going to try my hand and make the punched decoration.

Thanks

[Tim Edwards]

Paolo,

I belive Erik probably copied the disc pattern from a gladius found at Pompeii. It is one of 3 that was first published here:

Ulbert, G. 1969: 'Gladii aus Pompeji', Germania 47, 97-128

I will look at a friend's copy of Miks' book this evening for more detail.

I've never seen a detailed picture of the original locket or chape, I'm not even sure if the sword has been conserved properly.

The only photos I have seen were fuzzy and unhelpful.

I have been considering adding similar discs to my own scabbard, Markus Neidhardt offers broadly similar discs as apron mounts on his website:

www.replik.de

[Doc]

Tim,

Thanks for the reply. A picture would really be helpful. I appreciate your help.

Would you happen to know what images Erik put as the chape and locket?

Thanks

[Tim Edwards]

The chape is an image of Victory from a gladius found in the Rhine near Mainz and formerly in the Axel Guttmann collection.

The bottom most locket plate with the captive was found at Vindonissa in Switzerland.

Not sure about the standing Mars on the top panel...

[Doc]

Tim,

I knew that chape looked familiar I just did not recall from where.

So the Konig sword is not really the pompeii one that was found. It is a combination from a few different pompeii gladii.

So it seems reasonable that someone could resonstruct the entire Guttman pompeii scbbard and just add those concentric circled disks.

OR

Any chape and locket combination so long as they belong to known pompeii gladii

[Tim Edwards]

So it seems reasonable that someone could resonstruct the entire Guttman pompeii scbbard and just add those concentric circled disks. OR Any chape and locket combination so long as they belong to known pompeii gladii

Personally I chose to have the example from the Axel Guttmann collection reconstructed, pretty much as found, as we can be confident all the bits belong to each other.

However, if we only ever reconstructed the most intact examples of equipment we would be constantly reconstructing the same items, which would be pretty dull!!

I personally dont see a problem mixing and matching, as long as all the pieces are the same period, and can be shown to be from the same class of item.

I guess its up to you/your group to decide, no one else can really dictate your interpretation of authenticity.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I think if you read Erik Konigs descriptions with his reconstruction items,
they are mostly 'based on' or or fabricated after the findings of, rather than exact copies of the items he mentions in his website. Which is one reason I find his work perfectly acceptable and desireable.

It gives you the option to be a little different, but at least knowing there is a good basis behind his kit!

[Doc]

Tim,

It appears from the orginal picture that the pompeii gladius with the concentric circle disks has half of the locket missing and the chape is nearly unidentifiable?

Is this accurate or is the photo blurry?