Fig. 108.—Iron Spearheads from Talamone (No. 277). About 1:4.
Fig. 109.—Roman Legionary Sword and Scabbard found at Mainz (No. 284). 1:4. Reliefs, 2:3.
Fig. 110.—Greek and Cypriote Bronze arrowheads (Nos. 290, 288). 2:3.
The later Roman sword is excellently represented by the so-called "Sword of Tiberius," which was found in a field at Mainz on the Rhine (No. 284; fig. 109). The short iron blade is of the usual type, measuring twenty-one inches in length and two and a half in width at the base, from whence it tapers gently to a sharp point. The scabbard was made of wood covered with a plate of silver-gilt which is decorated with reliefs in gilt bronze. The plates of the bands which were hooked to the sword-belt are ornamented with wreaths of oak. At the hilt is a group which represents the Emperor Tiberius receiving his nephew Germanicus on the latter's return, in the year 17 A.D., from his victorious campaigns against the Germans, in the course of which he had recovered one of the legionary eagles which Varus had lost. The emperor, robed as a deity, is seated on a throne, resting his left arm on a shield which is inscribed FELICITAS · TIBERI—"The Good Fortune of Tiberius"—and holding in his right hand a small figure of Victory with wreath and palm, which he has just taken from his returning general. Germanicus stands before him in military attire, with his right hand stretched out. In the background is an armed figure, and behind the emperor a winged Victory brings a shield upon which is the legend VIC · AVG—"The Victory of Augustus." The middle of the scabbard is occupied by a medallion charged with a portrait of Tiberius, and at the point is a larger plate which is divided into two fields. The uppermost has a representation of a Roman eagle in a temple, and in the other is an Amazon armed with battle-axe and lance. It might not be wrong to connect the eagle with that of Varus; and the figure of the Amazon calls to mind the ode of Horace (Carm. iv. 4) celebrating the success of Drusus, the father of this Germanicus, against the Germans of the Danube, in which the poet expresses surprise that those barbarians should be armed with the Amazonian axe. Perhaps the next generation attributed this legendary weapon also to the Germans of the Rhine, and the Amazon is an allusion to the campaigns which the sword commemorates. From the contrast of the elaboration of the design with the cheapness of the execution, it would seem that the weapon is one of many copies which were turned out for some official purpose, probably a sword of honour presented to officers who had served with Germanicus.
Other remains of Roman swords are less complete. There are several fragments of scabbards, a bronze guard, two ivory pieces which may have been pommels of the hilt or caps of the sheath, and a good specimen of an entire hilt in bone (No. 285). This is very similar to the classical Greek pattern.
