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LOT 1413
Large Roman Socketted Iron Spearhead
3RD-5TH CENTURY A.D.
18 1/4 in. (834 grams, 46.5 cm).
With a large triangular blade, fitted with a central shallow groove, squared shoulders and a socketted shaft. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Cf. for similar Glad, D., L’armement dans la région balkanique á l’époque romaine tardive et proto-byzantine (284-641). Heritage, adaptation et innovation, Brepols, 2015, p.270 lett. Ie, for similar.
FootnotesThis spear was probably part of the armament of the Imperial Guards of the late Roman Empire. Similar spears are visible on the recently found reliefs of Nicomedia, in the hands of a protector divini lateris (guard of the Divine Flanks) of the Emperor Diocletian (Agturk, 2021, p.115) and other Imperial infantrymen. The same kind of spear is visible on a recently discovered sarcophagus of a protector of Diocletian, Tziampo, from the same locality.
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