The Mainz Gladius or Sword of Tiberius is a famous ancient Roman sword and sheath that was found in the Rhine near

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

in Germany. Since 1866 it has been part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

's collection, when it was given to the museum by the philanthropist

Felix Slade Felix Joseph Slade (6 August 1788 – 29 March 1868) was an English lawyer and collector of glass, books and prints. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Society of Antiquaries (1866) and a philanthropist who endowed three Slade Pr ...

. A replica of the Mainz

Gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word properly referring to the type of sword that was used by Ancient Rome, ancient Roman foot soldiers starting from the 3rd century BC and until the 3rd century AD. Linguistically, within Latin, the word also came t ...

can be found in the

Romano-Germanic Central Museum (Mainz) Romano-Germanic may refer to: *Romano-Germanic culture of ancient Germanic peoples subject to the Roman Empire *Romano-Germanic law, a family of legal systems *Romano-Germanic Empire, more commonly called the Holy Roman Empire *Romano-Germanic Museu ...

. The type of gladius was first introduced to the Romans in 20 BC. Eventually the Mainz Gladius was overtaken in popularity by the Pompeii gladius.

Description

The sword is made of iron (now heavily corroded) and the sheath of tinned and gilded bronze. The blade was long, in width, and in overall length, with a weight of . The point of the sword was more triangular than the Gladius Hispaniensis. The Mainz Gladius still had wasp-waisted curves. The decoration on the scabbard illustrates the ceding of military victory to

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

after a successful Alpine campaign. Augustus is semi-nude, and sits in the pose of Jupiter, flanked by the Roman gods of Victory and Mars Ultor ('the Avenger'), while Tiberius, in military dress, presents Augustus with a statuette of Victory.

Ownership of the sword

In the past, this sword was thought a prestigious weapon, likely to have been commissioned by a senior officer in the

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

to celebrate a victory in the lengthy and bloody military campaigns in Germany. Victory in these campaigns was essential for the expansion and protection of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

's border, and the symbolic act of presenting these victories to the emperor avoided the destructive rivalry between generals which had previously brought down the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

. This theory was based on the impressing decoration of the piece. However, there are no precious metals used in it and nowadays, there is plenty of evidence that such richly decorated Roman military equipment was in common use with rank and file soldiers as well, as long as they could afford it.

Description

Ownership of the sword

References

Further reading