SPECIAL

CELTIC SWORDS FOR ITALIC WARRIORS

GLADIUS
GALLICUS
“They fought fiercely with their swords against pikes,
reckless of their lives and thinking only of wounding
and slaying, while caring nothing for what they suf-
fered.” So wrote Plutarch more than four centuries af-
ter the great battle between the Roman Republic and
Pyrrhus of Epirus at Asculum in 279 BC (Life of Pyrrhus
21.6). What kind of swords did the legionaries, and their
central Italian allies, use in this famous engagement?

By Ross Cowan

he heroic image of the Romans povalano, Aufidena, Capena), where the

(Above) Xiphos or Italic-type
sword (c. 71.5 cm), and rem-
nants of its wood, iron, ivory
and bronze scabbard, of the
6th century BC. From Falis-
can Capena. After Monu-
menti Antichi 16 (1906), 403.
©Public domain
An Italic-type sword and
scabbard as depicted on the
front and rear of a Roman
aes signatum currency bar
of c. 280-250 BC.
© Trustees of the British Museum
T
hacking their way through the
long pikes (sarissae) of the
Epirote phalangites can be ac-
cepted as authentic. Plutarch’s
account, after all, was derived, either di-
rectly or indirectly, from contemporary
sources: Hieronymus of Cardia, the mem-
oirs of King Pyrrhus (ibid. 21.8), and Prox-
enus, the court historian (cf. Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 20.10.2).
But can the style of sword be established?
The Italic sword
Plutarch’s Greek text uses the generic term
xiphoi, ‘swords’. For the modern student of
ancient warfare, xiphos brings to mind a
specific weapon: the Greek ‘hoplite sword’
of the Archaic and Classical eras, with a
cruciform hilt section and a waisted blade
that swelled towards the point. It is famil-
iar from numerous depictions on Attic
and other painted Greek pottery, but
the finest examples of actual weapons
come from central Italy (e.g. Cam-
sword was adopted and manufactured from
the early sixth century BC. For the purpos-
es of our discussion, a better name for this
weapon is the ‘Italic sword’.
The Italic sword, with its distinctive
scabbard featuring an oversized peltate or
semicircular chape, appears in some detail
on one type of the aes signatum (bronze
currency bar) used by the Romans from c.
280 BC (the start of the Pyrrhic War) until
the middle of the century. The Italic sword
is prominent elsewhere in central Italian
art, most strikingly in the weapons friezes
and the combat and mythological scenes of
Etruscan tombs of the later fourth and early
third centuries BC. For example, sheathed
Italic swords are depicted hanging from pegs
in the Giglioli Tomb at Tarquinia and the
Tomb of the Reliefs at Caere. In the François
Tomb at Vulci, the erstwhile captors of the
Etruscan hero Mastarna and his companions
are shown being slaughtered by thrusts of
Italic swords. So forceful is the thrust to the
right armpit of one warrior that the sword

Ancient Warfare XII-4

8
passes through his body and bursts through
the breast plate of his bronze cuirass.
It would not be unreasonable, then,
to conclude that the Italic sword was the
weapon wielded with such fury by central
Italian warriors at Asculum. However, de-
spite its continuing prevalence in art (e.g.
on Etruscan painted sarcophagi and incised
mirrors, and Latin cistae and situlae), the
Italic sword actually fades from the artefac-
tual record in central Italy. The latest known
example (as far as the author is aware), from
a tomb at Colfiorito de Foligno (ancient
Plestia, Umbria), dates to the first half of the
fourth century BC. Thereafter, in funerary,
votive, and trophy contexts, a rather differ-
ent sword predominates.
The Gallic sword
This new sword, which may be conveniently
called the gladius Gallicus or ‘Gallic sword’,
was a cut-and-thrust weapon with a straight-
sided blade that tapered to a point. These La
Tène-type blades were carried into peninsu-
lar Italy by the Senones and other Gauls who
routed the Romans at the Allia in 390 BC (a CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION
sword of north Alpine manufacture discov- THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAP-
ered at Capena is probably a relic of this TION THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS
CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION
campaign) and afterwards roved around cen-
THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAP-
tral and southern Italy as mercenaries. The
TION THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS
Gauls adopted Italian long-shanked jave-
© Public domain (source - ancient.eu)
lins (pila), while Roman and Italian warriors
took up the Gallic-type sword and with it the
practice of wearing the weapon on the right.
Examples of Gallic-type swords are
known from tombs of Italian warriors in Etru-
ria, Umbria, Samnium, and the territories of
the Vestini, Marsi, Paeligni, and Marrucini.
Votive deposits of Gallic swords were made
at the Fucine Lake in Marsian country. At the
Latin city of Gabii and elsewhere, gladii Gal- The Sword of San Vittore, a Gallic-type
lici were nailed up as trophies in sanctuaries. blade of Roman manufacture. It was
Some of these swords were perhaps of actual ritually folded (the illustration shows
Gallic manufacture (imported or captured), the surviving c. 42 cm section of the
but others were Italian or Roman made. blade flattened out) and offered in
fulfilment of a vow, perhaps to Her-
The Tomb of the Reliefs at Caere (c.
cules, by its Roman owner in the ear-
300 BC) has already been mentioned. It also
ly 3rd century BC when the area was
features numerous Gallic swords, with dis- conquered from the Samnites.
tinctive X-shaped (or pseudo-anthropoid) © Ross Cowan
hilts, in the weapons frieze on the archi-
Ancient Warfare XII-4
9
 (Right) Gallic-type trave, where they bal- That the Ro-
swords, varying in ance the rows of Italic mans were using
length from 56.5 to blades. As Roman citizens, the Caeretans the Gallic blade
76 cm, deposited as
were liable for legionary and cavalry service decades before the
votive offerings in a
(cf. Livy 10.4.9). The tomb suggests that Italic sword of San Vittore
shrine at the Fucine
Lake in the 4th to 3rd and Gallic swords were used side by side in was forged may be
centuries BC. (Left) the Roman battle line. suggested by the
Gallic-type sword (c. 73 That the Romans manufactured their own famous duel of Ti-
cm), sheet iron scab- Gallic swords is confirmed by a blade depos- tus Manlius and the
bard, socketed pilum ited in the sanctuary of Fondo Decima at San Gaul (367 or 361
(c. 40 cm) and cor- Vittore del Lazio (Ad Flexum on the road be- BC). In one tradi-
roded butt-spike from
tween ancient Casinum and Venafrum). The tion, Manlius dis-
the grave of a Pentrian
inlaid bronze inscription states, “Trebius Pom- patched the Gaul
Samnite at San Biagio
Saracinisco, c. 300 BC. ponius, son of Gaius, made me at Rome”. The with thrusts of a
© Ross Cowan archaic Latin and inlaid ‘Macedonian star’ gladius Hispanien-
motifs indicate a manufacture date in the later sis, then hacked off
fourth to early third century BC – the era of the warrior’s head
the Samnite and Pyrrhic Wars. Interestingly, and took his gold
the name Trebius suggests a Campanian, or torque. Manlius
even Samnite, origin for the smith. placed the bloody
torque around
his own neck and
thereby assumed
the famous name
Torquatus (Claudi-
us Quadrigarius
quoted by Aulus Gellus, Attic Nights 9.13).
The reference to the gladius Hispanien-
sis, the ‘Spanish sword’ adopted by the Ro-
mans during the Hannibalic War (Suda, en-
try for machaira/sword), has been dismissed
as anachronistic. Torquatus could have killed
and decapitated the Gaul with an Italic
sword. However, if Torquatus did use a gladi-
us Gallicus, and that weapon was preserved
as an heirloom or dedicated in a sanctuary,
it may subsequently have been misidenti-
fied as a Spanish sword. Early examples of
the gladius Hispaniensis, such as the blades
from Šmihel, Slovenia (c. 175 BC), are not
dissimilar to the gladius Gallicus.
Manlius Torquatus would have stripped
the arms and armour from the Gaul and
either nailed them to the gateposts of his
house or dedicated them in a shrine. The dis-
play of spoils was practiced by other Italian
peoples, including the Samnites. Two Gal-
lic swords, and their sheet-iron scabbards,
© Tomás Ó’Brógáín

were set up as trophies at Pietrabbondante,

Ancient Warfare XII-4

10
the chief sanctuary of the Samnite confeder-
ation. They may well have been spoils taken
from the Romans at the Caudine Forks (321
BC) or Lautulae (315 BC).
Pietrabbondante (its ancient name is
not known) lay in the territory of the Pen-
trian Samnites. At San Biagio Saracinisco,
on the western edge of Pentrian land (ter-
ritory seized from the Volsci), the tomb of
a warrior, dating to the later fourth or early
third century BC, yielded a gladius Gallicus
and a socketed iron pilum shank that had
become fused to the sword’s iron scabbard.
Famed as javelin fighters (Ineditum Vatica-
num 3), the San Biagio sword demonstrates
that the Samnites also brandished the gla-
dius Gallicus in battle.
The Samnites fought for Pyrrhus at Ascu-
lum, their maniples stationed in the gaps be-
tween the units of the Epirote phalanx (Fron-
tinus, Stratagems 2.3.21; Polybius 18.28.10).
When Roman and Samnite crossed swords
at Asculum, or when a legionary hacked his
way towards an Epirote phalangite, it was CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION
most likely with a gladius Gallicus. 0 THIS CAPTION THIS CAPTION THIS CAP-
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FURTHER READING
Th. Lejars, “L’épée laténienne du
sanctuaire de Junon à Gabies.
Les témoignages archéologiques
d’une présence celtique dans le
Latium”, Archeologia Classica
66(5) (2015), 121-188 (available
to read on academia.edu)
G. Tagliamonte, “Spade di tipo
lateniano in contesti sabellici”, Gallic-type iron short sword (overall
in Tagliamonte (ed.) Ricerche di length 52 cm) with a bronze pseudo-
archeologia medio-adriatica, I. Le anthropoid hilt. From Sulmona in the
necropoli: contesti e materiali. (Ga- territory of the Paeligni. Dating to c.
latina 2008), pp. 231-242. 250 BC, it is a late example of the type.
© Trustees of the British Museum.
Ancient Warfare XII-4
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