مقبض سيف على هيئة نسر محفوظ في المتحف اليوناني الروماني بالإسكندرية

Abstract

Swords were important weapons for the Romans, who used multiple types during the Roman era, whether inspired by Greek and Spanish swords, or otherwise. Their sizes, shapes, and names varied. These included short, long, and honorary swords. The sword generally consists of the blade, hilt, and sheath. There were also swords for ordinary soldiers and other swords for senior officers, commanders and emperors, as well as the use of daggers that sometimes replaced swords. This research deals with the hilt of a sword that was preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and was later transferred to the Greco- Roman Museum in Alexandria. This hilt is decorated with a bronze eagle head. The research aims to determine the sword of this hilt through a descriptive and comparative analytical study of this hilt, which necessarily requires identifying the different types of swords and their periods of use, while answering many questions that arise about interpreting the symbolism of the design of the end of the handle in the form of an eagle’s head. And the origin of using birds to decorate hilts of swords, specifically the eagle? And the significance of this motif for Rome? Was it a usual decoration for swords used by ordinary infantry? or not? Was the bearer of this sword an ordinary soldier, a military header, or an emperor?