Byzantine Swords

[Blake]

Hi All,

I've been admiring this site for quite a while now, it really appeals to me. I'm a BA graduate (European Lit.) and my focus was Roman Military History. It's really encouraging to see such an active and vigorous forum on the subject! So many excellent threads!

I've been working on a thread on Byzantine Swords for a month or so now over at SBG, I thought I would share with you all. I'd be really interested in your input, it seems like there is a real wealth of knowledge here.

I'm really intrigued by Byzantine era swords, having first developed a keen interest in the swords of Roman Antiquity, my attention was soon diverted to the Medieval Legacy of Rome.

Here's the link to the thread:

http://forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/view...10&t=15575

As far as I aware it's the largest collection of Byzantine Swords available in one spot on the Web at the moment, but there could be another with more, if there is please let me know so I can read it!

Feel free to post replies here or SBG whichever you like. Looking forward to your responses; compliments and corrections more than welcome!

Bill Blake

Postscript - Bear with SBG as they are undergoing maintenance and a site overhaul at the moment, the pages take a little while to load sometimes and may occasionally need refreshing to display.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Welcome to the site Bill, although I am not aware of Byzantine-Era Blades, the Miks book has a large collection of images of Late-Roman pieces. It might have Byzantine pieces, but I don't know.

[Blake]

Hi Aetius,
I would love to get a copy of the Miks book I often hear about on Roman Army Talk. I have looked for it on Amazon an eBay so far have not been able to locate it. Can you advise me where I might find a copy?

[XorX]

http://www.antikmakler.de/catalog/store-...submit.y=0

I got the information last week that it might be delivered in new examples by april-may. I pre-ordered one for me mile:

[Blake]

Salvete.

I have migrated the thread here and reformatted it extensively to form a more coherent narrative:

http://swordsite.proboards.com/index.cgi...d=2&page=1

Look forward to feedback, I'm sure there's alot of knowledge about Byzantine Swords on this site.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

A very good pointer would be a volumn on Viking blades.
Unless someon gets there first, I will get the title for you.
That with the Osprey books on Varangians, Imperial Guards, and other books that
cover the Byzantine period, you should be able to piece together a coherant
picture of the blades they used.

A very well known one from the Viking period called Footbiter, was actually carried by a returning Varangian.

I see you have seen these books already, good webpage. 8)

[Blake]

I've bought a new domain, should be easier to remember, and housed the article there:

www.sword-site.com

I've decided to approach the subject of Byzantine Swords in a way I hope is reminiscent of Ewart Oakeshott's style, in that I have presented the images and explanations informally, trying to avoid being acute, and presenting matters in a way that does, I hope, show that I do not presume to have all the answers to such a broad subject.