New variants of the gladius, such as the 'Mainz gladius' and the 'Pompeii gladius', were used from the first century AD and during the early centuries of the Roman Empire in the third century AD the Roman infantry replaced the gladius with the ' spatha' (which was already used by Roman cavalrymen). From the 3rd century BC, however, the soldiers of the Roman Republic adopted a sword based on the Celtic sword used by the Celtiberians in Hispania late into the Punic Wars, known in Latin as the gladius hispaniensis, meaning ' Hispanic-type sword'.

Linguistically, within Latin, the Latin word also came to mean 'sword' generally and irrespective of type during this time.Įarly ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called xiphe (plural singular xiphos). Gladius ( Classical Latin: ) 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. Iron of varying degrees of carbon content, pointed, double-edged

Ancient Rome, based on the Celtiberian sword of Hispania

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