Postby Brandon Paul Heslop » Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:45 pm
Benjamin Parker wrote:Broadswords are a type of basket hilt saber, but Vegetius in his De Re Miltitari says that roman legionaries called their spathas broadswords call anyone help me?
I think it was the translator who referred to spathas as "broadswords," and not Vegetius himself. Museum curators started calling any broad-bladed sword a "broadsword" during the 19th century, and it subsequently spread throughout academia. I truly doubt that Vegetius would refer to spathas as "broadswords," particularly as they weren't any "broader" than a gladius.
Hope this helps.
-B.
Thys beeth ye lettr yt stondÿ in hys sygte \
To teche . or to play . or ellys for to fygte...
"This [is] the letter (way,) [for] standing in his (the opponent's) sight \
[either] to teach, or to play, or else for fight..."
-Man yt Wol.
