Istvánovits Eszter (szerk.): A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 55. (Nyíregyháza, 2013)
A 2010. október 11-14. között Nyíregyházán és Szatmárnémetiben megtartott Vándorló és letelepült barbárok a kárpáti régióban és a szomszédos területeken (I-V. század) Új leletek, új értelmezések című nemzetközi régészeti konferencia anyagai - Renata Madyda-Leugutko et al.: Új adatok a Felső-San-vidék római kori kulturális helyzetéhez
Magic sword pendants Fig-5 Gradeshka, Ukraine (after Gudkov a-Redina 1999.) 5- kép Gradeska, Ukrajna (Gudkova-Redina 1999. alapján) The artefacts discussed here were dated to the 3rd century, when ceremonial scabbard fittings came into use in the Roman army and among the tribes of the North European Barbaricum. Some changes may be noticed when compared with the preceding centuries. The lavishness of swords was previously manifested primarily at the decoration of their scabbards. The best examples are scabbards of the gladius type swords. From the first half of the 3rd century we have no evidence for the Romans bearing as spectacular scabbards as those used during the 1st and the early-2nd century (with the exception of incrusted or niello decorated ‘box’ chapes (German: Dosenortbänder), which appeared at that time. The situation was different in the North European Barbaricum, where a number of diverse, very richly ornamented scabbard fittings were in use beginning from the early- 3rd century. Approximately at the same time, swords topped with a new pommel type appeared in the Roman army equipment. The appearance of very decorative scabbards of Silistra type is dated to the second half or to the late-3rd century. The same tendency is recorded in the finds from the territory of the Barbaricum. It was manifested, among other things, by the use of swords with decorative pommels made of various materials, including rock crystal, jade or multicoloured glass, showing relationship with the alleged magic sword pendants. Hilts with hard but at the same time fragile pommels make one wonder about the functionality of such weapon. However, it seems that properly fitted elements, fixed by a specially chosen glue mass, were stable enough to prevent fragile elements from being damaged. Usually, most hilt assemblies consisted of three parts: a pommel, a grip and a hilt-guard. Fig. 4 Dura Europos. Reconstruction on the base of data by James 2004. 4. kép Dura Europos. Rekonstrukció James 2004. adatai alapján 425
