01-24-2006, 06:10 PM
Quote:Quote:A gladius seems like a glorified meat cleaver to me, meant to sunder fingers from hands and limbs from bodies. I can't imagine trying to perry and thrust with the thing, but that's just me.
I disagree!
If you look at the early gladii they are more of a large dagger. The long point is for stabbing. The Pompeii could with some imagination be a used to do a strike, but it is also still mainly a stabbingweapon.
Strikes and swinging is possible to do when you are in loose formation or in man to man combat. In closed formations you don´t have room to swing about. And if you have room to do that you want a longer sword. The tip speed is going to be higher and therefor a more powerful hit. Still the blade on a spathae also mostly a thrusting one. Strikes and swinging is I think quite over estimated in swordplay and especially in ancient times. The swinging is a thing from theatre fencing that has been over exposed in films. This is a thing I always has to struggle with when I get new students in my ARMA studygroup.
Martin
