Spanish Falcata sword - Woerden - Netherlands

[S SEVERUS]

http://www.archeonet.be/

I don't know how to put a photo here so if you use the link you can see a photo. It's a website in dutch.

The sword was found at Woerden and is from the Flavian period. It gives a hint to the spanish troops in the area at that time.

[Praefectusclassis]

Hotlinking a picture is pretty easy:

Use

Code:

[IMG]complete URL[/IMG]

[S SEVERUS]

Thank you for the link.
A still remains "latin" for me to do this. :roll:

[Uwe Bahr]

Avete,

a very interesting find. In the Dutch text is written that there have been garrisoned Spanish troops in that area after the Batavian revolt. Does anybody know whether these were Auxiliary units or even Roman legions that had been moved from Spain? In the latter case it would be a very special imagination to have a legionary of Spanish origin who still used - in some kind of national identity - the falcata.

However, there are even still visible parts of the sheath decoration and the remains of a little knife that usually was attached at the falcata sheath and now seems to be corroded to the falcata's blade.

BTW, the painting of JP Vieira comes into mind ...

link from old RAT

The complete topic: link from old RAT

Greets - Uwe

[Praefectusclassis]

Legio X Gemina was stationed in Spain before it transferred to Nijmegen...But it's certainly possible that there were auxiliary troops here with a Spanish heritage. Hard to answer without Spaul at hand.

[Peroni]

a very interesting find. In the Dutch text is written that there have been garrisoned Spanish troops in that area after the Batavian revolt. Does anybody know whether these were Auxiliary units or even Roman legions that had been moved from Spain?

Tacitus mentions a unit of Spanish/Basque auxiliaries during the revolt of 69.

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

certainyl is interesting...now come me as a complete weapon-idiot...anyone got parallels for this sort of thing anywhere? I've never seen one like it before!:oops:

C.

[Tarbicus]

Here you go:
http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/gb/in ... =a_falcata

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

ta very much indeed!

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

See that, a lot more cientific, an made by a RAT member (Thersites, aka Fernando quesada)

http://www.ffil.uam.es/equus/warmas/index.htm

[Celer]

Salve,

Simon James mentions that a 'spear head' found at Dura Europas was probably a flacata. He surmised it was a trophy left over from the Helenistic eara, but in light of this recent find, perhaps it was later?

Celer.

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

thanks for that link, cesar! Its amazing...(said he getting his spanish dictionary out :wink: )

C.

[Thersites]

Amazing.
I'd love to see a picture in MUCH greater detail, but:

1.- Last -archaeologically- known example of falcatas in Hispania are dated to c. 75-50 BC

2.- Last known literary reference: Caesarian (Munda, c. 45 BC) (Seneca, De Beneficiis)

So, this would be the most modern example of a 'falcata' type sword by over a century.

BUT

Shape of blade (specially that of main edge) is NOT that of any falcata, being straight instead of concave-then convex.

Shape of hilt a bit odd... but understandable if it is a VERY late example... among the last survivors of the type existing since c. 500 BC

Hilt oddities:
metal elements;
lenght of lower part of handguard;
profile of grip without projecting element for fingers,
also that strange protrusion behind horse's head (part of another object?)

I'd love to get in touch with the discoverers of this object

See Chapter on the falcata/machaira/kopis in my 'El Armamento Ibérico' (two volumes), Montagnac, 1997, Monographies Instrumentum, 3.

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

personally i am not at all convinced this is a falcata to say the least a sword...

the rib of the "blade" is clearly not forged in the metal but added on to it.

i dont know the measurements but it looks more to me like a celtic type of either weapon, axe/machete than a sword....

M.VIB.M.

[Robert Vermaat]

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