11-16-2002, 03:37 PM
I'd love to see any sort of documentation, plus maybe some decent photos of this piece. If it's really from the gladiator barracks at Pompeii, and if as Graham says it was originally straight, then what we have here is almost certainly the straight, slender sword the hoplomachus carried behind his shield as a backup for his lance. The small dimensions of the hilt would make this more feasible. I would like to see if it had a provision for that thong loop we so often see in gladiatorial depictions. It's too small for a wrist-loop and is always depicted just dangling. I suspect that this loop was used for hanging the weapon from a peg in the arsenal. Swords are never shown worn is a sheath by a gladiator, and I suspect that they never had sheaths in the first place. They were probably stored on racks and passed out to the fighters in the arena after the probatio armorum. This is a unique piece that needs greater publication. Any idea where its permanent home is? <p></p><i></i>
