Gladius for the short?

[Lysandra]

I am slightly Vertically impaired (5'2 at 18 and not going anywere). Most Gladius I've seen are around 28 inches long in total (handel to tip of scabard), If I put one of those on I'll never be able to draw the darn thing! any suggestions?? I should also mention that due to my gender when the hilt is too high it has a tendancy to... hit me in tender places :oops:

I reinact a Syrian archer of the early 1st century.

[Matt Lukes]

Ave Nonnie,

Well probably your only bet is to modify a commercially-available gladius like the Pompeii; it's easy to cut-down the length of the scabbard since it's only wood, but to adjust the actual sword, you'd need the right tools and if you don't, someone who can do the work.

You'd need to:

1) shorten the blade a little (bench grinder)
2) replace the handle with a shorter one

The blade (minus the tang) of my Pompeii gladius is 19", but I think it wouldn't be really noticable if it were 18"- easily-enough done with a bench grinder. The handle parts can either be modified or replaced entirely- luckily with the large variety of styles there were, you can easily justify changing the sizes of them- particularly the grip which should only be the width of your hand anyway. All this will probably only save 2 or 2 1/2", but that might be enough.

I hope this helps

Matt

[Lysandra]

that sounds promising, some of the other guys in our Legion probably have the right tools to adjust the blade length. I'm thinking I'll purchase my sword and then figure out what exactly needs to be done. The home made Gladius I'm used to is 24 inches inc. scabbard and handle, I might be able to handel a little longer then that

[Hibernicus]

I'm 5'3" and have no problems drawing mine.

some thoughts...
Adjust the way it hangs from the balteus... adjust how you "thread" the cingulum through the balteus straps... do you use two, three or four straps at the end of your balteus to attach to rings on the "wageena"?

Are you drawing it correctly? Back of hand facing your side, thumb down, pinky up?

http://www.legio-ix-hispana.org/draw01side.jpg

[Magnus]

What's a cingulum? :?

[Praefectusclassis]

What's a cingulum? :confused:

= military belt

[Matt Lukes]

Certainly being able to do the 'bayonet draw' necessitates that the weapon not be too long for the drawer's arm; I couldn't draw a sword with a blade longer than about 32", but I'm 6'1". Assuming I don't have freakishly long arms (which I don't think I do :wink: ), just doing a ratio between my hight:draw length to that of someone around 5'2", that person should be able to handle a sword with a blade on the order of 28"- quite a bit longer than the 19" of a Pompeii gladius, for example- and this all assumes the sword hangs with the mouth of its locket about 2" above the belt. If, as Sean points out, you adjust its hang, you can certainly add an inch or more- and that'd help with the problem of the pommel smacking you too.

Matt

[Lysandra]

Matt you've got way too much time on your hands :roll:

Thanks guys, I'll try adjusting the way it hangs on my belt, if that doesn't work I'll see about shortening the handle.

and Hibernicus I do draw it back of hand, pinky up.

I might as well use this for another question. Is anyone aware if the Auxilliary archers carried Pugios?? The Ermine street guard photos I'm working off of don't have them, but I can't be sure.

[Praefectusclassis]

Hyperanor and Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera - both in the imagebase - belong to Cohors I Sag. Assuming they are both archers therefore, both carry sword and pugio. Moreover, since the military belt with dagger was the no.1 identifying piece of equipment for a soldier, it's very likely they would have used one.