hooking gladius

[marcii ulpi messala]

Can someone show the system of hooking of the "gladius" to the "balteus" in the I-B.C.?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Marcii,


I have seen to small straps with buckles attached to the rings on the scabbard. These would in turn make an X over the belt and then buckle to the straps on the other side securing it to the belt.

I have also seen some re-enactors use the same method as attaching the pugio with small leather tabs "buttoned" to pugio hamgers.

[marcii ulpi messala]

Thank you very much Paul, can you show drawing or photography of the system of straps with buckles?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Sorry for my poor illustration skills, but this is all I could come up with on my PC.



These are crossed X then buckled over the belt.

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

Salve,Messala.
Is this what you're looking for?

[Matthew Amt]

Oh, don't do it that way, that guy's full of---wait a second, that's MY sword! Okay, I guess it's all right then, hee hee!

All seriousness aside, we really don't know how swords were attached to belts at that time! I would not use regular pugio frogs, since there are gravestone carvings that clearly show frogs for the pugio but clearly do NOT show them for the sword. Must have been a different system! But those gravestones are from the first century AD, of course, not BC. If you go farther back to the gladius hispaniensis, it was hung at an angle and seems to have used small straps and buckles:

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/hispan1.jpg

In this case, I did use those odd little plates from Numantia that look a little like pugio frogs, but aren't quite the same. Pure speculation! Once they went to a system of 4 rings with the scabbard vertical, all we can do is guess that there were loops or an X pattern of some sort. I tend to shy away from the buckled strap, but that's just me. Leather thongs are easier, and easy to replace if better evidence appears.

Valete,

Matthew

[Marcus Mummius]

So with the two waistbelt configuration in the first half of the 1st century AD the gladius wasn't suspended from pugio frogs? I didn't know that.

[marcii ulpi messala]

Thank you very much for your answers Paul, Andy And Matthew.

[Matthew Amt]

So with the two waistbelt configuration in the first half of the 1st century AD the gladius wasn't suspended from pugio frogs?

That's my understanding of the evidence. Very mysterious, but very much in character for the Romans. Certain things were done in certain ways. Compare the construction of gladius hilts and pugio hilts: Always different, for no adequately explained reason. Same with their scabbards--construction and decorative methods and motifs are different for the gladius than the pugio (though there are things like the frame scabbard which seem to be a stylistic overlap).

Matthew