Common errors about Antiquity

[Tiberius Clodius Corvinus]

Some more:

-The "rudis" that gladiators received when freed from the arena penalty was a woden sword

What was it then? I've always wondered about that.

M.

Acording to Dunkle (and Ville if I'm not mistaken) the word for the wooden sword used for training is always in the latin plural, "rudes", although with a singular meaning, while the wooden object given to the gladiator at his/hers release from service is a "rudis", singular, that is, a rod. So they were given a wooden rod, not a wooden sword.

Formally this may mean rod indeed, but I somehow feel getting a simple rod is weird given the importance of the act of "freeing" the gladiator from his business. Or is "rod" then just a slang word for sword?

But if really a rod, are there any other info on this rod then, like inscriptions? Or may be a depiction of a sword on it?

just wondering ...