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Back to previous pageLOT 0270
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,080
2ND CENTURY B.C.
12 in. (235 grams, 30.6 cm).
A pugio military dagger with waisted leaf-shaped blade, rounded midrib, rectangular rivetted baluster, short grip with crescent pommel.
PROVENANCE:
Ex North American private collection, 1970s-1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
LITERATURE:
See Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Bishop M. C. & Coulston J.C.N., Roman military equipment from the Punic Wars to the fall of Rome, London, 2006; for identical specimen cf. Casprini, F., Saliola, M., Pugio gladius brevis est, storia e tecnologia del pugnale da guerra romano, Roma, 2012, p.103 no.1.
FOOTNOTES:
The pugio appeared as a side weapon of the Roman legionary in the 2nd century B.C. However, its full diffusion within the Roman army begun with Caesar and Augustus, where it appeared as the reserve weapon for the heavy infantryman. The present specimen belongs to the Celtiberian tribes who fought against the Roman army in the 2nd century B.C., but represents one of the first prototypes adopted from the Iberians by the Roman legionaries.
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