Knives & Blades Of SteelFor The Knife & Blade Enthusiast

roman boot dagger?

i have to make a medieval wepon and i chose a roman boot dagger.I need the purpose of it, the time period it was invented in, when it was used and why it was used. PLEASE HELP ME!

The “pugio” was a small dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the pugio was intended as an auxiliary or backup weapon, but it found many uses, especially as a utility knife.

Officials of the empire took to wearing ornate daggers in the performance of their offices, and some would wear concealed daggers as a defense against contingencies.

The dagger was a common weapon of assassination and suicide; for example, the conspirators who stabbed Julius Caesar used pugiones.

Before 50 AD

Originally, the dagger typically had a large, leaf-shaped blade 18 cm to 28 cm (7 in to 11 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) or more in width. A raised midrib ran the length of each side, either simply standing out from the face or defined by grooves on either side. The tang was wide and flat initially, and the grip was riveted through it, as well as through the shoulders of the blade.

The dagger was ornate even by Roman standards. It was worn on the left side of the body, attached to the belt the soldier wore around his waist. The handle was shaped to fit snugly in the hand, and the blade was fashioned from either iron or bronze ans pear shaped. This unusual shape to the blade did not fit with the traditional Roman trait of making weapons to be functional rather than decorative.

The pugio was not just used for warfare, it had many other uses. Peeling fruit, cutting vegtables, in fact nearly anything we do with an everyday knife, the Roman soldier did with his pugio.

Paul Waggoner [BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME] – Boot Dagger Boogie