Gladius - Predecessors and Origins

Predecessors and Origins

The Hispanic sword was probably not acquired from Hispania and not from the Carthaginians. Livy relates the story of Titus Manlius Torquatus taking up a Gallic challenge to a single combat by a large-size soldier at a bridge over the Anio river, where the Gauls and the Romans were encamped on opposite sides of the river. 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 happened in the consulships of C. Sulpicius and C. Licinius in about 361 BC, much before the Punic Wars, but during the frontier wars with the Gauls (366-341 BC). One theory therefore proposes the borrowing of the word gladius from *kladi- during this period, relying on the principle that k becomes g in Latin. Ennius attests the word. Gladius may have replaced ensis, which in the literary periods was used mainly by the poets.

The exact origin of the gladius Hispanus is a debated topic, while it is likely that it descended ultimately from Celtic swords of the La Tene and Hallstat periods; it is unknown if it descended directly from Celtiberian troops of the Punic Wars, or through Gallic troops of the Gallic Wars.