republican gladius- worthy of a look

[John M McDermott]

Here is a republican gladius and scabbard I commissioned recently. It changes my mind about the beauty of Republican equipment.

[john m roberts]

John:
Can we get a look closer-up and unsheathed? From whom did you commission it? I'd love to have a Republican-era gladius. Is the sheath patterned after the bizarre item published a few years ago with the latticelike bronze frame?

[John M McDermott]

Here is the original. It was posted somewhere on the RAT before.

[Tarbicus]

Here's the gladius from JRMES Vol. 11:

[url:13b5x5nf]http://www.mcbishop.co.uk/jrmes/j1101.htm[/url]

[John M McDermott]

In its reproduced form, this is a sword of unusual elegance and beauty. I am intrigued by the style of its artistic beauty.

[Tarbicus]

It looks great, John. Who made it for you, if you don't mind me asking? If you don't want to say don't worry.

[John M McDermott]

The blade itself is of uncertain origin, as I bought it from another fellow who didn't mention its origin.

Credit for conforming the blade and constructing the scabbard should go to Mr. B. Stobbs.

[Conal]

I am intrigued by this one as the suspension system on the original ( Fig 14 JRMES Vol 11) is not the usual late Republican Roman.

I dont have Volume 11 so what is it that sets the piece as Roman rrather than a local weapon ?

[John M McDermott]

It does have an interesting system. It resembles the system that was used on my officer's sword in the USMC. The sword hangs from a frog that consists of two prongs on the sword belt. Then, at the wearer's option, he can take it off the frog and let it hang from the baldric, which is attached to two rings on the same side of the scabbard. This allows it to hang at an angle. It can be drawn out with ease by the right hand when suspended in this way. Also, it could be worn by a cavalryman with great comfort this way. However, the sword suggests it is clearly an infantry sword because of the long point. I have not read the article in Vol. XI, but I am reasonably confident it is Roman, but, then, how do we know anything is Roman?

[Crispvs]

I was at the ROMEC conference in 1999 when Janka Istenic described this sword. I recall that she said that the scabbard parts were very similar to scabbard fittings that had been found on a number of Augustan period Roman sites, although it had been unclear how they fitted together until this one was found. When I get home I will try to remember to dig out JRMES XI to check whether she mentions this detail in the written article.

Crispvs

[Tarbicus]

This could be of interest (scroll down to Roman Period) :

[url:1hkslqtc]http://av.zrc-sazu.si/En/54/AV54.html[/url]

Includes, by Janka Istenic:
The Early Roman "Hoard of Vrhnika": A Collection of Finds from the River Ljubljanica.
Augustan sword-scabbards with net-like fitments.

[John M McDermott]

Yes, Crispus, that would be nice. I don't have that article. The material posted by Tarbicus suggests this sword may be from the Augustan period. I always thought it was firmly republican.

[Crispvs]

John,

Quoting from the article: Janka Istenic, A late-republican gladius from the river Ljubljanica (Slovenia), Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies Volume 11 (2000).

"The length of the scabbard from Ljubljanica, its proportions and its elongated point are indicative of late-republican/pre-Augustan period. Its characteristic mesh-like fitting finds its closest parallel in a sword with a scabbard from Magdalensberg (Carinthia, Austria), which was found in a burnt layer dated by associated finds (including early sigillata) to the period 30-20 B.C. This badly preserved iron sword with fragmentary tang, measures 652 mm in its scabbard (the length of the blade is 535 mm). The scabbard was formed of two wooden halves covered with leather. It had copper alloy fittings as follows: 11 mm high fitting at its mouth, two ribbed transverse fittings with loops for rings, a guttering which ends in a pelta-shaped knob and a cage-like fitment at the tip. Due to the poor state of preservation, the lenght of the cage-like fitment shown on the published reconstruction is speculative. A fragment of similar cage-like mount, 62 mm wide, is known from Sisak/Siscia. It has been described by Hoffiller, Koscevic, and also Fransius, as a fitment from a dagger-sheath. The second cross-bar of this fitment, being distinctly narrower than the upper one, indicated that it is more probable that it had been attached near the tip of the sword-scabbard. There is no evidence for the dating of this fitment, other than typology. A closely similar fitment and two transverse fitments, all made of silver and coming from the same scabbard, have been found at the site of the Varan disaster of A.D. 9 at Kalkriese. The cage-like fitment was situated at its tip. This prestigious fitment has a precious gem in the same position as the openwork decoration in a circle on the example from Sisak. The scabbard of a sword from the Roman ship found at Comaccio which should be dated to the 2nd or perhaps 1st decade B.C., was also decorated with a similar fitment. This has a relatively close parallel in the scabbard fitment which was found at Saintes (France) in an unknown context. All these 'cages' were not rivetted to the scabbards, but attached by folding the ends of the transverse rods around the edges and pressing them against the back of the scabbard.
The method of sword suspension utilizing rings attached to loops on two transverse fitments is typical of gladii of Mainz (and later Pompeian) type, but also of the much earlier (Celto-)Iberian daggers/swords, which probably influenced the form of the gladius hispaniensis, and the few Roman late-republican swords known (eg Delos - see below; Mouries, dated to c. 100 B.C.; Ornavasso, S. Bernardo, Grave 31, dated to the period between 90 or 80 and 40 B.C. by Martin Kilcher). Though the rings do not survive on the Ljubljanica scabbard, it may be assumed that they once existed. Nevertheless, these fitments clearly differ from the 'classical' ones, as well as those from Magdalensberg and from Berry-Bouy (Fontillet), which comes from a grave dated to c. 20 B.C. though it may have been an heirloom in this context. The transverse fitments from Ljubljanica are narrower, not ribbed, positioned on the back of the scabbard, and are not wrapped around it, but terminate on the from and are rivetted to the guttering.
Non-'classical' transverse fitments, which are not wrapped around their scabbard but terminate on the back, occur also on a wooden sword-scabbard with copper-alloy guttering and fitments from Giubiasco, Grave 119. The umbo and the belt-ring form this grave suggest a date in the first half of the first century B.C. (D. Bozic, pers. comm.). Another similar sword from Ornavasso, Persons Grave 97, dated to between 40 and 29/15 B.C., casts doubt on the reliability of the grave-group from Giubiasco.
No analogies could be found for the rectangular fitment with the two substantial holes protruding from the back of the scabbard (fig 14). In spite of the much later date of the Pompeian-type swords, they should be mentioned here. On the back of two of the scabbards of this type, from Pompeii and Poetovio, fitments are preserved, situated between the transverse mounts with loops for rings. Ulbert describes them as wide bands of "bronze" bent to form a sling, with the ends pushed under the guttering and rivetted to it. He assumed that these swords were attached to the cingulum with this "additional" fitment at the back of the scabbard, but the rings through the loops of the transversal fittings would have been attached to the balteus. On the other hand, a slide at the back-side of the scabbard, albeit longitudinal, is a characteristic feature of La tene sword sheaths.
The animal-head terminals (preserved only on one side) are similar to the handle-ends of the Pescate-type ladles, probably produced in Northern Italy. These are characteristic of graves dating from the end of the 2nd to the middle of the 1st century B.C., although some examples have been found in later contexts.
The length of the scabbard from Ljubljanica (650 mm) is similar to that from Delos, which was found in a layer dated to 69 B.C. Calculating from the published drawings, it measures 620 mm and the sword with the handle measures 760 mm in length. The scabbard and the blade are relatively wide (60 and 53 mm at the mouth) in comparison with the example from Ljubljanica (55 mm at the mouth of the scabbard; the blade is estimated at 45 mm between the transverse mounts). From this it is evident that the taper of the scabbard from Delos is more marked thanthat on the sheath from Ljubljanica. According to the descriptio and the schematic drawing of the Delos find made before its restoration, the scabbard was made of leather, and held together with iron guttering (not visible on the drawing) and iron bands around it. Two narrow transverse iron fitments, each with a suspension ring, are preserved but it is not clear how they were fixed to the sheath."

Elsewhere in the article she mentions that the scabbard of the Ljubljanica sword as made of maple or possibly nut wood and was made in two halves joined at the edges with guttering.

I hope that this information answers any questions you might have.

Crispvs

[Chuck Russell]

very nice