Gladius

The gladius was the standard sword of Roman foot soldiers from roughly the third century BC to the third century AD, a double edged blade built for both cutting and thrusting, typically 60 to 85 centimeters overall with a blade of 45 to 68 centimeters; the Latin word later became the general term for any sword. Rome adopted the design from Celtiberian mercenaries fighting for Carthage during the Punic Wars, and smiths made it either by pattern welding several steel strips together or forging it from a single piece of high carbon steel, with a harder core for strength. A legionary carried the gladius with a large shield, javelins and often a dagger, thrusting from behind the shield in a technique that Macedonian forces found horrifying for the deadliness of its stab wounds when they met Roman swordsmen in the Second Macedonian War around 200 BC; by the third century AD the longer spatha had largely replaced it in the legions, though it remained in use among light infantry.