%0 Journal Article
%T Some typological features of Byzantine spatha
%A Aleksi£¿ Marko
%J Zbornik Radova Vizantolo£¿kog Instituta
%D 2010
%I Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
%R 10.2298/zrvi1047121a
%X This paper analyses finds of a special type of cross-guard, closer analogies of which may be found on Byzantine visual presentations from the IX-XI centuries. The only archaeological find of a sword with such a cross-guard which includes a preserved blade, indicates the characteristics of the spatha - the type of sword that was widespread in Byzantium, in those times. Swords with this kind of cross-guard and the general characteristics of the spatha are depicted in visual presentations as the weapons of the protospatharios or some other high-ranking imperial guardsmen and, in the descriptions of Byzantine court ceremony, this weapon was also called a spatha.
%K spatha
%K Byzantine sword
%K protospatharios
%K spatharios
%K cross-guard
%U http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0584-9888/2010/0584-98881047121A.pdf