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+--- Thread: Pattern welding - authentic for Late Romans? (/showthread.php?tid=25278)
Pattern welding - authentic for Late Romans? - M. Val. Naso - 11-30-2015
Sorry for the demagogic title, had to catch your attention. So I'm contemplating of commissioning a pattern welded sharp spatha for myself, a centurion from 375-400. So far I'm under the impression, that pattern welding was the main technique utilized in this period to make quality swords (or even simple ones). I got this point of view by looking at the metric shitton of pattern welded Germanic spathas from the 4th and 5th centuries (often thought of as of Roman manufacture), and the overwhelming majority of pattern welded blades after 500.
Looking at Miks' book, he overlooked this part in his analysis (at least I did not find anything about this). Do you have any intel on this topic? Is this really an issue, or am I overhyping it in my head?
Personally I don't think it is not authentic to go for a pattern-welded one, even if I don't know the exact specifics of my selected find. Chances are on my side, and pattern-welding would have to do more with compatibility with my kit and persona.
RE: Pattern welding - authentic for Late Romans? - Alanus - 12-03-2015
Hi, "M"
I think you'll find pattern welding was common during the late Imperial period. Somewhere here on RAT there's an entire thread on this subject. As Sargent Schultz always said, "I know Nothing. Nothing!" ... about late Roman swords... because I'm a barbarian from the East. By AD 200, pattern welding was "old hat" to the Chinese, they had advanced to folded, and triple-welded, "san-mai" blades (up to 3,000 layers), the best being clay tempered. If the Chinese were this advanced, then the Romans of two centuries later were certainly creating sophisticated blades.
