i'd like to know if there are any grips from roman swords like the gladius and spatha. All the historical examples I've seen have no hilts of grips of any kind, and I'm wondering if we can even determine accurate shape and material details from the depictions in reliefs and carvings, i mean come on, how can a vague stone representation tell us that a gladius had a grip of ivory and a hilt of wood in the shape most repros have made them?

just wondering. thanks in advance for your help.

Seth

I'm not sure where this picture came from, but I believe it is an Ivory hilt.

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...and if I had bothered to read the description I would know it was Ivory. :blush: [/u]

The British Museum had surviving bits and pieces of Roman swords. I'm fairly sure I have one with the hilt intact or mostly so. I'll check my Flickr account and see, and post the pic if I do.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/2429593650_07243c48ce.jpg?v=0

Here's a wider shot of all the right gear on a legionaire, with hilt and most of the sheath of a gladius intact.



Here is the hilt of the pugio intact as well.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2420/2429600056_369643ae45.jpg?v=0

Hello Seth.

Have a look at www.romancoins.info
In the military equipment section there's all sorts of good stuff, including museum shots of bone, ivory, and wooden grips/hilts.

Cheers,
Darrin.

Avete!

Yes, numerous gladius and spatha hilt parts survive. Grips tend to be bone, generally cow foot bone but also a few horse and I think one or two deer bones. A few wooden grips are also known. Pommels and guards seem to have been wood most often, though they are also known in bone. Of course, ivory was used for any of those parts, though that would be "top of the line" and much less common. Here's a page of black and white drawings from Bishop and Coulston's "Roman Military Equipment" which shows a good sample of hilt parts:

http://romanmilitaryequipment.co.uk/figures.htm

Artwork is still useful because it shows us how the parts went together. It also makes it clear that there was no leather or cord wrapping over the grip (which is quite comfortable and solid just as it is).

There are certainly lots of things we don't know about Roman stuff, but we're pretty lucky with sword parts!

Valete,

Matthew

If you go to the Roman Army Talk forum and do a search you will find tons of info.

WOW! Thanks for all the great posts guys. I really appreciate it!

Im so suprized at all the variety within the gladius hilt design; most of the designs I have just seen for the first time. I'd like to know more about this soon.

Once again, thanks everyone :)

Seth