Tridents

[Hermann]

So, it seems that the trident's history as a combat weapon is a little hazy. I know of its use by gladiators and the Kievan Rus, but other than that, nein.

Sooo, what's the deal here? Let's talk.

[daryush]

It appears to have been used throughout India and became regalia of royalty in NW India under the Kushans and Kushano-Sasanians, for example. I really like them as weapons - they make for excellent trapping and parrying :mrgreen:

[jvrjenivs]

For the Romans the Trident seems to be associated with fishing and/or hunting, and thereby also developed into the Retiarius gladiator armatura.

[Alanus]

I think Jurjen got the stab right. The trident, in its most used form, was designed for taking large fish, first showing up in Greek art and then sliding into Roman territory, especially former Greek provinces. The symbol of Catana, Sicilia, is the trident, and the town still has a huge fish market. The trident was the most popular method fishermen could take large pelaegic species such as short-billed spearfish and blue-fin tuna. In gladitorial games, the reality became fantasy as mentioned above, the fisherman's net and trident moving into the realm of combat.

[koechlyruestow]

From late antiquity onwards, the trident became an infantry weapon among other pole-arms like the bill (Persian das, Arabic sabarbarah, Greek dorydrepanon). Both christian Spanish and Byzantine depictions of groups of infantry show tridents among the other polearms and pikes waving about above the heads of the soldiers.
I suspect it was, just as the other polearms, a weapon against cavalry, another weapon that became increasingly important from late antiquity onwards.