[Andrea Billia]

Hello everyone, I was doing a research on handles and grips of the gladii, and I was wondering if there are reliable sources where it is stated that leather were applied to the handle.
I know wood, bone and ivory were used, but could they also have covered the grip with leather?

[Matthew Amt]

Never that I've seen. Not only do we have a large number of surviving grips--in wood, bone, ivory, and silver--with no traces of leather over them, we also see them clearly depicted in artwork, identical to the artifacts. Plus those artifacts are sometimes even decorated, not the kind of thing you'd do before covering it with leather. Not that you'd cover ivory or silver with leather anyway!

Bone is especially good for grips and was the most common material. Unlike wood, it gets *sticky* as your hand gets sweaty, making a more secure grip.

Matthew

[Andrea Billia]

Many thanks for your reply.