Roman Boar Spears?

[Eleatic Guest]

Did the Romans have boar spears with these perpendicular wings which are meant to prevent wild animals from charging up the shaft? I remember vaguely reading a claim that this type of spear was only introduced by the Avars (or were it the Normans?).

[dave74]

If I'm understanding the type you mean correctly,it couldn't have been the Normans as they were in use at least a few centuries earlier.
There was one in the grave from Krefeld circa mid 6th century C.E. that had the ring-sword and, spanenhelm.

[FarDarter]

In all the reconstructions and artifacts I have seen, I have not once seen wings on any Greek or Roman spears. I think the answer to your question is that they did not need wings until the knights decided to hunt big, mean game; in a phalanx battle, it is two walls of men thrusting at each other with spears essentially, which does not lend credibility to the tactic of going at a dead sprint towards your enemy; as for Romans, they were not huge fans of the infantry spear, but as far as I can tell Roman spears also lacked wings. But when men were taking on massive animals, then yes, wings came into play.

[S. Marcer]

Hello!
A similar subject had already been discussed in this topic, starting from the representation of the boar hunt in the mosaic of the "Big Hunt" (Grand Caccia) from Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina (320-330 AD circa).

[attachment=8512]100713193323-particolare-dei-mosaici-di-piazza-armerina.jpg[/attachment]

Best!
S.M.

[Eleatic Guest]

Concerning Xenophon's brief description, do you think we can unequivocally identify the "two solid projecting teeth of wrought metal in the middle of the socket" as the typical wing of a boar spear or are there other interpretations possible?

[Urselius]

Renaissance boarspears sometimes had a sort of toggle-bar attached to the head by a flexible linkage (eg. a leather thong). So an Ancient boarspear could have had an organic - wood or bone - toggle leaving no trace to the modern Archaeologist. We know that Macedonian youths were not allowed to eat at table with the men until they had killed a boar, on foot with a spear.

[Eleatic Guest]

To keep things tidy, there is a third thread which dealt with boar spears: Winged lance head/boar spear

Here another 4th-century AD mosaic with a boar spear.

[M. Demetrius]

A man would have to have Schwarzenegger muscles and firm footing to resist a leaping 100 kilo boar! Maybe it happened. But it would probably be time to change the subligarium when the dust settled.

[Urselius]

You had substantial hounds to distract the boar - or sow for that matter - and nets were sometimes used. Still, not something I would care to do as a recreation.

[Eleatic Guest]

Concerning Xenophon's brief description, do you think we can unequivocally identify the "two solid projecting teeth of wrought metal in the middle of the socket" as the typical wing of a boar spear or are there other interpretations possible?

Hating to recycle this question, but are we all agreed that Xenophon describes a boar spear as early as the 4th century BC?

[Iagoba]

Here you have a nice example of late Roman hunting spear from the Cabriana Villa, in the border between Alava and Burgos provinces, in Spain. The villa is in Alava, but the nechropolis in Burgos, so the objects found in the tombs (including a small treasure of Maxentius' coins dated 350-353) are in the Burgos Archeological Museum (which I have been triying to visit for years, but always foud it closed ). Aitor Iriarte was luckier than me, so he took those photos:

Ignore the label... :lol:

[Robert Vermaat]

This one is from Oudenburg (B), a Saxon Shore fort. The very large spearhead still shows remains from a surviving 'projecting tooth'.

[XorX]

The Spanish piece has a "twin" in the late-5th-century-piece from the Hammelburg warrior grave in northern Bavaria / Germany

[George44]

        Iagoba pid='310503' dateline='1387114317']Here you have a nice example of late Roman hunting spear from the Cabriana Villa, in the border between Alava and Burgos provinces, in Spain. The villa is in Alava, but the nechropolis in Burgos, so the objects found in the tombs (including a small treasure of Maxentius' coins dated 350-353) are in the Burgos Archeological Museum [/quote]


Got one at home. Good shape but afraid to clean it!