[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

The Royal Ontario Museum is now showing an exhibition of artifacts from Pompeii, and I was fortunate in being asked to contribute a replica piece for their programming. To my surprise, I was asked to make a sword - surprising because I don't make swords; I make armour. I made it anyway, and I really enjoyed it. It is based on what we could piece together from the unpublished sword and scabbard found on the body of a soldier who died in a pyroclastic flow on the beach of Herculaneum in 79 AD. I hope you like it!

The blade is from 1045 steel, which has a similar carbon content to the average of what would be found in a contemporary Roman sword. Hardening was by slack quenching. I forged the blade very close to its intended dimensions, so that very little stock needed to be removed. For better or worse, some of the forge scale was still visible after final sanding.

The blade has a lozenge section, and a distal taper that ends about 4 inches before the tip (shortly before the profile taper) for the tip reinforcement.

The hilt is furnished with a guard and pommel carved from European boxwood, then clad in a thin skin of silver. The silver was applied as two parts per-fitting, with the parts overlapping over a bead (or double bead) moulding at the part's "equator." The physical crimping of the silver over the bead is all that holds it together (or was before peening the tang) and is surprisingly effective. The silver cladding was what I found most challenging about the whole project, requiring over 100 anneal/work cycles to fit the very thin silver sheets without accidentally folding or cracking them.



Atop the pommel is a ring assembly of unknown (if any) function.



The grip is made of cow bone, carved and polished. The rib between where the index and ring finger grip the sword is unusually deep, and made selection of the bone particularly difficult. The bone needed to be large enough to accommodate the peaks, but not too large or the cavity inside the bone would necessitate grooves that were too shallow. The staff at the store where I bought the bone must have thought I had a very fussy dog!

The part of the project that I enjoyed most was the scabbard. The core is made from two planks of linden, wrapped in pigskin and clad in bronze. The alloy I used is not commercially available in the thicknesses needed for this project, so I had to draw the plates out by hand... which is surprisingly time-consuming! The design of the plates on the original sword are largely obscured by a set of silver medallions worn over the scabbard (assumed to be a form of military award), so much of the scabbard's decoration is based on contemporary pieces, conflated by Dr. Mason, at the ROM. The relief work was executed by repousse over pitch, and the mouldings were made with purpose-built swages.




Accompanying the sword is a belt to wear it, made of silver plates. The Herculaneum soldier wore a separate belt for both his dagger and his sword; what is unusual is that both bore round frogs for weapon attachment (usually only the pugio belt does):




Thanks for looking. I will dig up some weights and measurements from my shop book, because I am sure some of you would like to know. :-)

-Jeffrey Hildebrandt

[Tim Lison]

Gasp!!! That is breathtaking. Unbelievable work! Simply outstanding! I'd like to see a pic of it being worn. I'm having a hard time understanding the belt which is a shame because it's glorious. Any chance for a photo of it being worn?

[Henry R. Gower]

I have wondered for quite a long time what kind of sword a Roman Patrician might wear,someone of consular rank, say.Most surviving examples, as well as most replicas today are very simple and therefore suggest a modest status. One exception though, would be the so called "Sword of Tiberius" in the British Museum. Clealry, the instant example was not the sword of an ordinary soldier, any thoughts on how high on the social scale its owner might have been?
Henry

[Jerry Monaghan]

Hi Jeffrey.
That would have to be the best roman sword that I have ever had the pleasure to see congratulations an total work
of art I am so envious .
thank you for posting

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

[Carl W.]

Thank You very much for sharing this here. (Very) well done seems for once pathetic praise, so adding Wow!!

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

[Tim Lison]

Thanks for the extra pic of how the suspension works. I would love to see it being worn if you can manage! An absolute masterpiece!

[J. Nicolaysen]

Really great Jeff, I'm in awe. Did you like making a sword? I think the marks make it look very real. I'd be happy to take this one off the Museum's hands if they don't like it, as long as they just give it away. This kind of work has so many skills involved, from forging to repousse to everything. Just great.

[Patrick Kelly]

This is amazing work. I'm particularly fascinated by the fixing of the silver to the wooden hilt components. There are some pieces made recently that really take things to a new level, this is one of them.

At least it's going to a museum, so I won't have to live in envy of the individual who may own it.

[Jarno-T. Pälikkö]

Now, this is just a stunning piece of craftsmanship!
Concratulations, Sir - you do make me green with envy!

JT

[Richard Miller]

Words fail me. This work is unbelievably beautiful. I have always admired those people who have the ability to create art. This is a true Masterpiece!

[Maciej K.]

Thank you for sharing Jeffrey.
I was thinking - if I ever saw a better reconstruction of roman sword ?... and the answer is: no.
this is top notch. as a swordmaker - true congratulations.

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

There's an article on Herculaneum in the December 1982 edition of National Geographic. On page 691 there's a photo of the sword (only the scabbard is visible) lying next to the skeleton of its owner.

[Kirk Lee Spencer]

Absolutely beautiful recreation!!!

I think this may be it's owner featured in National Geographic...

take care,

ks

[Matt Corbin]

Very VERY cool!!!

[Gregory J. Liebau]

Congratulations on taking another long stride forward, Jeff... Looks like you're in the sword making business now, for better or worse!

-Gregory

[Peter Johnsson]

Outstanding work Jeff!

Really enjoyed seeing this, especially since I visited Pompeii only the other week together with the family.

Wonderful work, masterful.
Congratulations to a great project.

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

Thanks, Gregory. There are few swords that I feel I could do justice without completely diverting my attention to a new craft. This one was exceptional in that most of what made the original special was its sheet metal decoration, which was surprisingly similar to the work I usually do. It was a pleasant change of subject, though, and I could see myself enjoying some other blade-related projects in the future (I would particularly love to collaborate with other specialized makers), if their fancy sheet-work put them within my scope - La Tène scabbards, pugionnes, pierced cup-hilts and main-gauche daggers all sound impossible to pass up. I enjoyed making an Indian-style patah a few years ago, and I have a hooded katar coming up soon that I am looking forward to, but I suspect that making armour will remain my focus.

Thanks for your kind words too, Peter, and for being so open-handed with your research online. A post of yours on another forum was useful to my customer and I, when deciding how to treat the tip of the blade.

I also made it to Pompeii a few years ago, and it really brought ancient Rome to life for me. It was a rare piece of physically-experienced context that enriched this project. It is something that I envy of those who can afford more travel, or better yet, live in or near the environs of the historical cultures that interest them.