Spatha
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Spatha.jpg
The Spatha is a straight, slashing sword, usually worn by cavalry officers and auxiliaries in later Roman armies. Usually a longer version of the shorter, leaf-shaped gladius used by a legionaire, the spatha is around 75 - 100 cm long (3 feet) but seldom reached a full metre.
Employed by both Roman cavalrymen and their German enemies, later Lombard spathae were actually more advanced than the wrought iron gladii, being constructed using a form of pattern welding employing layers of iron and steel: in effect, a composite material. Eventually under the later Roman Empire the Spatha was adopted by many if not most legionaires.
From German spathae probably stemmed most later kinds of straight, middle sized slashing blades.
A common name for such weapons is broad sword - although the term is more accurately referred to a mid 16th century slavic sword, the Schiavona.de:Spatha fi:Spatha pl:Spatha