Gladius

Gladius (Classical Latin: [ˈɡɫadiʊs]) is a Latin word properly referring to the type of sword that was used by ancient Roman foot soldiers starting from the 3rd century BC and until the 3rd century AD. Linguistically, within Latin, the word also came to mean "sword", regardless of the type used. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called xiphe (pl., sg.: xiphos). From the 3rd century BC, however, the Romans adopted a weapon based on the sword of the Celtiberians of Hispania in service to Carthage during the Punic Wars, known in Latin as the gladius hispaniensis, meaning "Hispanic-type sword". The Romans improved the weapon and modified it depending on how their battle units waged war, and created over time new types of "gladii" such as the Mainz gladius and the Pompeii gladius. Finally, in the third century AD the heavy Roman infantry replaced the gladius with the spatha (already common among Roman cavalrymen), relegating the gladius as a weapon for light Roman infantry. A fully equipped Roman legionary after the consulships of Gaius Marius (the Marian reforms) was armed with a sword (gladius), a shield (scutum), one or two javelins (pila), often a dagger (pugio), and perhaps, in the later empire period, darts (plumbatae). Conventionally, soldiers threw pila 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.