SHORT BLADE WITH DOUBLE SHEATH

Description The double scabbard was designed to contain two weapons, a short gladius-type sword and a dagger: only the first has survived. The two sheaths, of different sizes, are welded together at the top for over half the length, then shrink apart and rejoin at the end of the shorter sheath. The arched bottom was originally perforated on both. Each is decorated on the outer face with a row of eight openwork triangles of different sizes: all have their tips pointing downwards, with the exception of the last ones which are reversed by symmetry as the cases widen towards the bottom. On the front, in the upper external part of the large one and in the lower external part of the small one, there are two horizontal eyelets: they were used to fix the double sheath to the belt diagonally instead of vertically, probably to facilitate unsheathing and sheathing weapons.