Essay On Roman Gladius

The Roman Gladius was one of the main weapons used during the early Roman empire. “Gladius is the Latin word meaning sword” (Rayment), so any kind of sword could be called a Gladius, but the Roman short sword was mostly referred to as the Roman Gladius. The main parts of a Roman Gladius (As shown in the picture to the right from Rayment) are the Pommel, Hilt Wasp waist and the 50-cm blade. The Roman Gladius was very popular because of Its double bladed edge and its point. It was very popular for light infantry because it was small and good for close quarter combat. The disadvantage in length was made up with its light and maneuverability design. The Roman Gladius was used mostly in organized formations so they didn’t suffer a lot of casualties when charging in with a short-sword. The Roman Gladius could also be used in

close-combat and self defense (Rayment) but it was made mostly for big army formations.

There is more than one way to make a sword, one way is to make it all in one piece with a wasp waist as in the picture above.

The Roman Gladius is an example of this, the iron for the Gladius came from mines in Rome. Then the iron is put through a process called smelting, smelting is used to remove the rock and other impurities in the iron ore. After that is done the iron is put into a mold for the sword. The mold is usually made from a mixture of hard clay. Another way to make a sword is to have it in five different pieces, like some “Gladii (plural for Gladius) were made from five pieces with higher carbon content in the center with the outer pieces having a lower carbon content” (Rayment). The one with five pieces are about 10 centimeters longer than the swords made with only one piece of metal. This is because it is harder to keep the steel in the one long piece of metal strong enough to land blows and not bend if it is longer than if it was a bit shorter and lighter. The Gladius with five different parts is easier to keep stronger, but it is very bent at the edges because of the low carbon content of the outside

pieces.

The blade of the Gladius when it is made from one solid slab of iron is then placed in a charcoal fire and heated until it is so hot that it is red. After it turns red hot it is then taken out and hammered on an anvil to make some fine adjustments and to get the rest of the impurities out of the iron. This process is then repeated until the entire blade has had this done to it. “This process is called work-hardened” (Gonzalez). This simply means that instead of heating the iron up really hot, then dipping it in water (quench-hardening) to make the iron hard, it is heated up really hot then slowly cools as the blacksmith hammers out the metal to make the blade smooth and remove impurities from the blade. After this is done “the tang is then work-hardened” (Making a Gladius) so it won’t bend or break in battle under the hilt because then the blade would slide right out. The tang is usually a small rod protrudes out of the blade and is thin enough to have the hilt fit on it but thick enough so it won’t break in battle. I think this is very important because after you put on the hilt you don’t want to have it so lose it slides around a lot or have it too big so when you put the hilt on the wood breaks and splinters because the tang didn’t fit right.

The hilt is at the end of the blade. it is usually made of wood. It consists of a guard, grip, and a pommel. The pommel of the Gladius keeps the hilt from sliding off the end of the tang. The first item that is made is the guard, it protects the individual from having the opponent's sword slide down the blade and cut his hand. It is usually made of a piece of wood that is a bit wider and thicker than the blade. It is has a hole cut into the wood so it can slide on the tang smoothly. The next piece that is constructed is the grip, it is made of wood also. Most of the time it comes from a block of wood that is then grooved to fit the fingers of the fighter. Then a hole is put right through the middle to slide on the tang after the guard is placed on the tang. The last part that will be made is the pommel, its job is to keep everything from sliding off the tang. It is a piece of wood that can be secured to the tang so it won’t slither off. After the hilt has been put on it is then covered with a polish to keep the wood from rotting, also it keeps the person's hand from getting splinters.

Even though the Roman Gladius was a good sword it, like everything else in the world, got replaced by a better model. The Roman Gladius got replaced by the Spatha because the infantrymen needed a longer reach for their weapons so they adopted the Spatha