Rome versus Pyrrhus

[Matthew Amt]

I was interested in the immediate predecessor. So it sounds like the Romans moved to a shorter wider blade for easier use in formation and wider wounds from stabbing.

Well, as with most things, it's more vague and complicated than that. For starters, "gladius" simply means "sword", and can be used to describe most anything that we might call a "sword". So I'm assuming you mean the immediate predecessor to what we call the Mainz style gladius? That would indeed be the hispaniensis, which was generally narrower but longer. But note that the hispaniensis was in use for almost 200 years, right alongside other styles, so the perceived advantages of other blade styles were apparently not overwhelming.

Before the gladius hispaniensis, things are a little murky. There were various swords in use, some derived from earlier Greek styles, others native developments, but most of what we know comes from artwork rather than archeological finds. There just isn't much to go on!

Vale,

Matthew