Four Roman swords and a pilum (short throwing spear) have been found in a cave in the En Gedi Nature Reserve in the Judean Desert of Israel, according to a statement by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The cave has previously been explored by archaeologists in the 1970s, when a stalactite with an inscription was discovered, written in a form of ancient Hebrew typical of the First Temple Period (roughly 1200 to 586 BC). A group of archaeologists recently re-visited this cave with the intention of photographing this inscription, when one of them noticed the haft of the pilum, leading to an investigation which revealed the four swords hidden within a hidden crevice.
The swords comprise three spatha-type blades between 60 and 65 cm in length (a spatha was a slightly longer version of the typical Roman gladius sword, which was typically carried by cavalry officers) and a 45 cm long ring-pommel sword (a ring-pommel was used to tie the sword to the owners wrist in case it was dropped, and again is typically associated with cavalry warfare). All were found with wood and leather scabbards and leather straps, and appear to have had hilts made of metal and wood. The weapons are thought likely to have been captured during the Bar Kokhba Revolt against Roman rule in Judea in 132-135 AD, and subsequently hidden by the rebels. Although they have not been fully analysed by archaeologists yet, they are thought unlikely to be of local manufacture, and instead were probably brought to Judea by soldiers from Europe when they were posted there.
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