Gladius
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.
Gladius
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.
Etymology
Gladius is a Latin masculine noun. The nominative plural of it is gladiī. However, gladius in Latin refers to any sword, not only the sword described here. The word appears in literature as early as the plays of Plautus (Casina, Rudens).
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