Gladius

Gladius (/ˈɡleɪdiəs/; Classical Latin: ) was one Latin word for sword, and is used to represent the primary sword of Ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called xiphos. From the 3rd century BC, however, the Romans adopted swords similar to those used by the Celtiberians and others during the early part of the conquest of Hispania. This sword was known as the gladius hispaniensis, or 'Hispanic sword'. Gladius (/ˈɡleɪdiəs/; Classical Latin: ) was one Latin word for sword, and is used to represent the primary sword of Ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called xiphos. From the 3rd century BC, however, the Romans adopted swords similar to those used by the Celtiberians and others during the early part of the conquest of Hispania. This sword was known as the gladius hispaniensis, or 'Hispanic sword'. A fully equipped Roman legionary after the reforms of Gaius Marius was armed with a shield (scutum), one or two javelins (pila), a sword (gladius), often a dagger (pugio), and, perhaps in the later empire period, darts (plumbatae). Conventionally, soldiers threw pilae to disable the enemy's shields and disrupt enemy formations before engaging in close combat, for which they drew the gladius. A soldier generally led with the shield and thrust with the sword. Gladius is a Latin masculine second declension noun. Its (nominative and vocative) plural is gladiī. However, gladius in Latin refers to any sword, not specifically the modern definition of a gladius. The word appears in literature as early as the plays of Plautus (Casina, Rudens). Gladius is generally believed to be a Celtic loan in Latin (perhaps via an Etruscan intermediary), derived from ancient Celtic *kladi(b)os or *kladimos 'sword' (whence modern Welsh cleddyf 'sword', modern Breton klezeff, Old Irish claideb/Modern Irish claidheamh ; the root of the word may survive in the Old Irish verb claidid 'digs, excavates' and anciently attested in the Gallo-Brittonic place name element cladia/clado 'ditch, trench, valley hollow'). Modern English words derived from gladius include gladiator ('swordsman') and gladiolus ('little sword', from the diminutive form of gladius), a flowering plant with sword-shaped leaves. According to Livy and Polybius, Celtiberian mercenaries for Hannibal at the Battle of Cannae wielded short swords that excelled at both slashing and thrusting. Roman military would have adopted this design even before the end of the war, calling it gladius hispaniensis in Latin and iberiké machaira in Greek. This weapon replaced the previous Roman sword, which would have been based on the Greek xiphos. It is believed Scipio Africanus was the promoter of the change after the Battle of Cartagena in 209 BC, after which he set the inhabitants to produce weapons for the Roman army. Later, Livy relates the story of Titus Manlius Torquatus accepting a challenge to a single combat by a large Gallic soldier at a bridge over the Anio river, where the Gauls and the Romans were encamped on opposite sides. Manlius strapped on the 'Hispanic sword' (gladius Hispanus). During the combat he thrust twice with it under the shield of the Gaul, dealing fatal blows to the abdomen. He then removed the Gaul's torc and placed it around his own neck, hence the name, torquatus. The combat occurred during the consulships of C. Sulpicius Peticus and C. Licinius Stolo—i.e., about 361 BC, long before the Punic Wars, but during the frontier wars with the Gauls (366-341 BC). One theory proposes the borrowing of the word gladius from *kladi- during this period, relying on the principle that K often became G in Latin. Ennius attests the word. gladius may have replaced ensis, which in the literary periods was used mainly by poets. The exact origin of the gladius Hispanus is disputed. While it is likely that it descended ultimately from Celtic swords of the La Tene and Hallstat periods, no one knows if it came to the Romans through Celtiberian troops of the Punic Wars, or through Gallic troops of the Gallic Wars.