Sica

[1] It was originally depicted as a curved sword (see the Zliten mosaic as well as numerous oil lamps) and many examples have been found in what are today Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania.

[6] According to historian John Wilkes:[7] Although a short curved sword was used by several peoples around the Mediterranean the Romans regarded the sica as a distinct Illyrian weapon used by the stealthy 'assassin' (sicarius)From a typological point of view, though there is a strong tendency towards standardization, the sica daggers can be organised in three main types that differ only by morphological aspects, not functional.

[citation needed] The daggers’ decoration, remarkably complex, offers them a sum of spiritual, artistically and symbolical valences.

On the blade geometrical shapes were incised, but also eagles and snakes, in which case their schematization requires the existence of a certain "code", or they were an emblem that underlined the membership of a certain brotherhood at arms or a certain social status, as well possible to have a mystical/magical component included.

[8] From the facts presented above, it can be stated that the sica dagger represents an important historical artifact which, due to its importance and the role it played in the Thracian world, contributes to the understanding of the social and military mechanisms of this society and, through the special spiritual dimension, to the reception of a new side from the religious mosaic of this people.