07-03-2012, 09:03 PM
Speaking of the Celtic world, that I am familiar with, but also for the Germanic, as Harjaz has written, we have no real way of knowing which side they carried the weapons.
The iconography of the classic art show the Celts (Barbarians) generally represented with the sword carried on the right side.
[attachment=4538]IMGA.jpg[/attachment]
(1. Cratere of Leipzig, n. inv. T 952; 2. Stamnos of Bonn, n. inv. 1569; 3. Cratere of the Louvre, n. inv. 9830001)
But, in the archaeological discoveries the record of cases is various (weapons in the graves found also at the left side of the body and especially is not possible to make a sure connection among the grave deposition and the real position of the weapons when it was used).
I think that some ideas can be made looking the well-known stone sculptures of the European Iron Age…
To make some examples, it can be useful starting from the Hallstattian art of south Germany. The warrior of Hirschlanden (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) is a great example, strongly influenced by the Mediterranean culture, influence that comes from the Adriatic coast, he shows his Celtic characters in the torque, the headgear and sword / dagger, put in the middle but tilted towards the left side.
In the same period (third quarter of the VII - end of VI century B.C.) in the center-north of Italy (Lunigiana) the phenomenon of the “statue stele” appears. All of this stone sculptures represent warriors and some of them carried in the right side a short sword “ad antenne” typical of the western Hallstatt culture.
Between the end of the Hallstatt and the beginnings of the La Tene there is the famous warrior of Glauberg (Hessen, Germany), with the weapon on the right side.
In the Iberian late Iron Age (100 BC - 50 AD) the statues of the "Iberian group" appear: the two warriors statues of the Lezenho hillfort (Vila Real, Portugal), with the daggers on the right side, the Warrior of Citânia de São Julião (Braga, Portugal), dagger always on the right and the warrior of Saint Comba hillfort (?)(Vila Real, Portugal) with the dagger on the left.
In France, in the Late Iron Age period (LT D) there is a warrior of Mondragon (Vaucluse), with the sword on the right side. The warrior of Vachères is not useful because it is a representation of an Auxiliar Infantryman of the Roman army in the LTD2b period, where the armament is inspired from the Roman ones.
The situation is quite complicated, and the differences (not only techniques) among sword, short sword, dagger, war knife are in some cases not so clear…
The iconography of the classic art show the Celts (Barbarians) generally represented with the sword carried on the right side.
[attachment=4538]IMGA.jpg[/attachment]
(1. Cratere of Leipzig, n. inv. T 952; 2. Stamnos of Bonn, n. inv. 1569; 3. Cratere of the Louvre, n. inv. 9830001)
But, in the archaeological discoveries the record of cases is various (weapons in the graves found also at the left side of the body and especially is not possible to make a sure connection among the grave deposition and the real position of the weapons when it was used).
I think that some ideas can be made looking the well-known stone sculptures of the European Iron Age…
To make some examples, it can be useful starting from the Hallstattian art of south Germany. The warrior of Hirschlanden (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) is a great example, strongly influenced by the Mediterranean culture, influence that comes from the Adriatic coast, he shows his Celtic characters in the torque, the headgear and sword / dagger, put in the middle but tilted towards the left side.
In the same period (third quarter of the VII - end of VI century B.C.) in the center-north of Italy (Lunigiana) the phenomenon of the “statue stele” appears. All of this stone sculptures represent warriors and some of them carried in the right side a short sword “ad antenne” typical of the western Hallstatt culture.
Between the end of the Hallstatt and the beginnings of the La Tene there is the famous warrior of Glauberg (Hessen, Germany), with the weapon on the right side.
In the Iberian late Iron Age (100 BC - 50 AD) the statues of the "Iberian group" appear: the two warriors statues of the Lezenho hillfort (Vila Real, Portugal), with the daggers on the right side, the Warrior of Citânia de São Julião (Braga, Portugal), dagger always on the right and the warrior of Saint Comba hillfort (?)(Vila Real, Portugal) with the dagger on the left.
In France, in the Late Iron Age period (LT D) there is a warrior of Mondragon (Vaucluse), with the sword on the right side. The warrior of Vachères is not useful because it is a representation of an Auxiliar Infantryman of the Roman army in the LTD2b period, where the armament is inspired from the Roman ones.
The situation is quite complicated, and the differences (not only techniques) among sword, short sword, dagger, war knife are in some cases not so clear…
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SM.
ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
SM.
ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
