spatha handling?

[randomperson]

Hello, I am new around here.

I have been lurking around a couple of sword forum, looking for clues for the weight and handling of Roman spatha. It seems to be that for a production spatha made by Deepeeka seems to be rather heavy in weight (and the forward balance does not help much). On the other hand when I looked at a next generation roman spatha made by Albion, their spatha weighs a little over 1.5 pound, which seems pretty light considered that the Albion spatha weights as much as their gladius. Even though Albion has a reputation for making weapons that are historically accurate in handling, it seems a little off to me. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that to get in order for the sword to be light, the sword has to have a significant distal taper and has to be relatively thin.

My question is, are spatha suppose to rather light and have good handling? If available, where could I get more information regarding handling and balance of Roman weapons?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Having seen the spatha in the Edinburgh Museum, I can say that it is very thin bladed, albeit with a few years corrosion taken into account...
I also have one of Albions new spatha, and cannot fault its handling characteristics.
It and their gladii handle ideally. As for source info, one of the developers from Albion is a member of this forum, and perhaps could be said to be an expert on the study of sword handling charateristics. He would certainly be a good source of info, if anyone is. 8)