Pugio

The pugio (Latin: [ˈpuːɡioː];[1][2] plural: pugiones) was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm.

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

[4][5] It is still possible to use punch and stab synonymously in many Indo-European languages; hence, Latin pugnus and Greek πυγμή pygmḗ mean "fist".

The front plate was usually heavily decorated with inlaid brass, silver, niello and red, yellow or green enamel.

These sheaths featured round free-running suspension rings, attached by bifurcated mountings which were riveted on.

Modern reconstructions of these sheaths which feature applied brass plates attached by rivets are incorrect and nothing of this type has ever been found.

The suspension rings resembled small Roman military buckles and were hinged to the sides of the sheath.

This in itself caused no great change to the pugio's appearance, although the archaeological evidence strongly suggests that the rod tang was less secure and that handles attached in this way could become detached, a possibility that may be proved by the existence of two surviving pugiones from different sites which both retain replacement handles, one of which is a recycled sword grip.

Like the earlier period, it was made with two layers of horn, wood or bone sandwiching the tang, each overlaid with a thin iron plate, which could either be solid, becoming thinner at both the guard and the pommel expansion, which was roughly trapezial in shape, or made of thin metal embossed to this shape.