History The Roman military equipment was standardized which lead to excellence in their military endeavors. At first the weapons used by the Romans were based on ancient weapons used by the Greeks and Etruscans. During Roman conquest other weapons were adopted by the Roman army. Ancient Romans borrowed their weapon designs from the Celtic people and from the Carthaginians. Once adopted the weapon became the standard that was used by large number of Roman troopers.
During the Roman Republic and at the beginning of the Roman Empire, most Roman troopers used swords (gladius) and throwing spears (pilum) as their primary weapons. Later the pilum became the main Roman trooper’s weapon. In addition to the main sword called gladius, Roman soldiers were also equipped with a sidearm in the form of a large dagger called pugio. The pugio featured a large , wide and leaf-shaped blade .
Gladius is the general word for sword in Latin. First Roman Gladius swords were based on Spanish sword designes and were called “Gladius Hispanensis”. These were followed by slightly different sword designs such as the Mainz Gladius and Pompeii Gladius. In addition to Gladius other longer swords were used during the Roman Empire. These were used mainly by the Roman cavalry who needed longer swords. Such swords were called Spatha. Shorter versions of this swords were used as well and these were called semisphata.
Our ancient roman weapon collection includes Gladius swords. The Roman Gladius sword is available in a battle ready form, with sharpened blade and in re-enactment version which features dull blades to minimize the chance of injury during combat. Our Roman collection includes also Roman armor such as lorica segmentata and Roman helmets that are completely wearable.