The Mainz style, so named as they found a number in the Rhine River and nearby at a Roman fort site near Mainz, Germany, was an early version of the gladius hispaniensis or Spanish shortsword. The gladius hispaniensis was adopted during the Punic Wars in the 3rd Century BC from the weapons used by the Celt-Iberians in what is now Spain. It was then a slightly wasp-waisted sword of perhaps 18-20 inch blade length. After the waist, the blade swellwd and them tapered to a very sharp point, one that was perfect for stabbing somebody's guts through their mail hauberk, the standard Roman Legionnary tactic. The gladius had evolved, by the late Republic, the time of Caius Julius Caesar, into what we call the Mainz style. This lasted until arount the middle of the first century AD, when the Pompeii style began to replace it. The Pompeii style was so named from examples found at the ruins of the cities of Pompeii and Herculanaeum, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.
Actually, by the time of Marcus Aurellius, the setting for the movie in about 180AD, the Pompeii style gladius had been superceded by a ring-hilted model adopted from the Sarmatians whom the Romans had fought along the Danubian frontier. But it needs remembering here that any and all military equipments in the Roman army were used until they wore out, so that armors and helmets and swords from any and all periods would have been seen mixed together.
To see a very fine example of a reproduction Mainz style gladius, go to
http://members.aol.com/gijchar/main.htm
which is The Lonely Mountain Forge, click on Roman Weapons and Armor and then on Mainz Style Gladius. Just don't have astroke at the prices.
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
