GGAAAAHHHHHH (Drooling, snickering and swallowing sounds)

My Presioussss.....

Hey Guys, Thanks for all the positive remarks.

The NG romans differ in subtle ways from their first gen counterparts.

As has been noted, the grips are now holly and not bone. It´s as Howy said a matter of availability and workability of the bone. There is also a health issue.
It is a bit of a modern convention that a roman sword should have walnut pommel and guard and a grip of bone. It looks nice for sure but it is not really an authentic feature (although I am sure it could have hapened). (Bone grips were common, but also wood grips. I have not been able to make out what was most common.

On the drawing I fell prey to another modern convention: the median lines on the pommel. This is a common feature on modern reproductions (as it looks nice) but again, it is not that common on originals.
When one hold the sword in hand, I think the subtle shapes of the components work toghether well in creating visual interest even without these lines.

Before I started the final design work I searched for additional material. I made a trip to Copenhagen to see the exhibition "Spoils of War" that presented the danish bog finds with all the roman military equipment. There were numerous blades and hilt component exhibited. Very interesting.
While there were no clean cut Mainz, Fulham or Pompei swords, it was still possible to get an impression of shapes, styles and characters of roman hilts spanning most of the imperial period.
I tried to use the impressions from this exhibit when working with the final design of the hilts (this will be more directly applicable when I get to the spathae).
Another point of reference is a gladius or spatha hilt in the British Museum. It is carved out of one single piece of ivory. Its grip is simply turned with a round section (this one is the direct inspiration for the grips of the NG gladii). The tubular grip is something I´ve seen on other roman swords as well. I was at first worried by this feature as I thought an oval section was necessary for proper edge alignement.
During the development of the gladii I tried out various shapes and sizes for the different parts. The effect and functionality of the turned grip was a surprice: the shape of the guard and to some degree the pommel actually provide all the purchase and guide you need for secure edge alignement. It is very tactile and intuitive. No need to adjust the grip, it naturally sits very fimrly with perfect alignement of the edge. The pommel provides good support in a horisontal stabbing attack, but does not hinder an overhead sweeping cut. The curve and radius of the pommel allowes free movement of the wrist.
After working with these hilts for some time I was impresed by the simple and very effective use of shapes and proportions. It tok soem experimentation to get it where I think it should be. Like viking hilts the roman swords have a striking and very typical shape, but there are some finess in how it is made, it is an interesting study. The romans obviously had some idea of what they were doing...;-)

The blades for these swords are also different from the first gen conterparts. I have based the designs on those specimen I have had opportunity to see close or handle (not many!) but also examples I´ve seen in museum desplays. Added to this whatever papers on the topic I have had access to.
The leaf shape of the Mainz and Fulham patterns is sublte. In many reproductions the waist and flair are pretty exaggerated. The lines on originals follow more gentle curves. This to me makes all the difference, and I have tried to make justice to this feature in these blades.
There is also some thought invested in cross sections of the blade blanks and the management of distal taper. You sometime hear that roman swords did not have distal taper. I do not know where this idea comes from. It is true the distal taper is not very pronounced, but on all the originals I´ve seen it is obvious there if you look for it. Some archaeological drawings of originals do not show this feature, but I have some suspicion this is not a true reflection of the originals in this respect.
The distal taper is not linear. It starts out concave and turns into a convex distal taper towards the point. The point is thick enough to form into a sturdy stabbing point, but the management of the distribution of mass makes a marked difference in handling. The Mainz and Fulham are similar in feel: the Mainz is the heftier oner (slightly), but both are agile and powerful choppers with good point controll. Compact and very aggressive swords with (surprisingly?) good cutting performance and very good manouverability.
The Pompei was perhaps the biggest surprice of these three. But more of that later...

Thanks, Peter.



You're teasing us with the Pompeii. . . :p

So, how far along are the spathae?

Nice looking piece, but the Roman stuff just ain't my thing. I'm waiting for a migration-flavored spatha.

Brian M

That's the finest proportions I've seen in a gladius, even custom ones. Many times this hilt type just comes out looking wierd.

I got to handle one each of the Pedite and Mainze when I was at Albion's shop last week. They are both very light and fast in the hand. Light years ahead of the Windlass models I have held. I am suprised to see the Mainze weighs more. In hand it felt a little lighter to me. Also a suprise was the fact that the round grips felt perfectly normal. I expected them to feel odd.

Hi Peter,

This is why I had originally suggested African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) when you asked for suggestions, as this would have provided an 'ebony' guard and pommel. I think the black timber contrasts much more nicely with the holly or boxwood than walnut with its reddish brown appearance. This would also have been historically more accurate as well ..

Now african blackwood with ivory .. well now .... ;-)

"A sunken vessel was found somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean with a cargo of (among other things) wooden billets that were analysed as blackwood. The key thing is that the cargo manifest was also found with the vessel carved on a clay tablet in Egyptian hieroglyphics, listing ebony as part of the cargo. The hieroglyphics transliterate as HBNI and the etymology of "ebony" is from Egyptian via Greek ..." (http://www.blackwoodconservation.org/tree.html)

Very nice gladii anyway Peter, I've been following your progress over the years from first being mentioned on swordforum.com years ago (90's) by Bjorn ... to where you are now, keep up the good work ...!

Peter Johnsson wrote:

It is a bit of a modern convention that a roman sword should have walnut pommel and guard and a grip of bone. It looks nice for sure but it is not really an authentic feature (although I am sure it could have hapened). (Bone grips were common, but also wood grips. I have not been able to make out what was most common.

I just received a shortish white box via UPS a couple of hours ago. It was my long-awaited Allectus which I'd originally ordered in April or May. You Albion guys have done yet another beautiful job! The holly grip is especially pleasing, much better than bone in my opinion, and the blade is perfect. It is a very light, quick, responsive sword. Thanks, guys, it was well worth the wait.