LOT 0266

Roman Iron Spatha Sword

2ND-4TH CENTURY A.D.

27 5/8 in. (468 grams, 70.1 cm).

A double-edged blade of Lauriacum Hromówka typology with blood channels running down most of its length on both sides, parallel cutting edges tapering towards the triangular point, massive tapering tang with a bronze nail for the fastening of the pommel, and an ancient repair at the base of the tang with a flattened domed rivet.

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12917-245171.

Cf. Biborski, M.,‘Miecze z okresu wpływów rzymskich na obszarze kultury przeworskiej’, in Materiały Archeologiczne XVIII, 1978, pp. 53-165; Czarnecka, K.,‘Two newly-found Roman swords from the Przeworsk culture cemetery in Oblin, Siedlce District, Poland’ in JRMES 3, 1992, pp. 41-56; Biborski, M., ‘Römische Schwerter im Gebiet des europäischen Barbaricum’, in JRMES 5, 1994, pp.169-198; Southern, P., Dixon, K.R., The Late Roman Army, London, 1996; Miks, C., Studien zur Romischen Schwertbewaffnung in der Kaiserzeit, I-II Banden, Rahden, 2007; Cascarino,G., Sansilvestri,C., L’esercito romano, armamento ed organizzazione, vol.III, dal III secolo alla fine dell’Impero d’Occidente, Rimini, 2009; for very similar specimens see Miks, 2007, nos.A106 (Chmielów Piaskowy, dated at the 2nd century A.D.); A685 (Spicymierz, dated to the mid 4th century A.D.).

Although in Latin literature the late Roman sword was often still conventionally called gladius (Ammianus Marcellinus, Historiae, XIX, 6; Passio SS. Rogatiani et Donatiani, 1859, p.323), the main kind of blade of the 3rd and 4th century Roman soldier belongs to the type so-called spatha (Scriptores Historia Augusta, Divus Claudius, XXV,7,5; 8,5) which directly derived from the long cutting Celtic sword of the La Tène III period, already used by the cavalrymen and auxilia of the previous ages. The great spatha (spathì) of the Roman heavy infantryman was considered by Julius Africanus (Fragm., I, 1, 53) as the main weapon of the armoured legionary of Alexander Severus. The frequent clashes with Germanic warriors armed with long swords and the increased recruitment of them in the Roman army quickened a more intensive use of the spathae by the milites legionarii. These longer swords slowly replaced the shorter gladius, the double-edged sword of the imperial infantry, for all types of troops.