Spatha
![Roman era reenactor holding a replica Late Roman Spatha](/Images/godic/202502/12/Spatha_end_of_second_century_15121.jpg")
![Roman cavalry reenactor wearing a replica spatha](/Images/godic/202502/12/Roman_Cavalry_2_-_cropped5121.JPG")
![Depiction of swords with hilts fashioned in the shape of eagles' heads (Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs, ca. AD 300)](/Images/godic/202502/12/7946_-_Venezia_-_Tetrarchi_in_Piazza_San_Marco_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_8-Aug-20075121.jpg")
![Tombstones of Roman cavalrymen buried in Germany:
Roman auxiliary, tombstone in Mainz; signifer of a turma, tombstone in Worms.](/Images/godic/202502/12/Tombstones_of_Rome_horsemen_in_Germany5121.jpg")
The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between 0.75 and 1 m (30 and 39 in), in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during c. the 1st to 6th centuries AD. Later swords from the 7th to 10th centuries, like the Viking swords, are recognizable derivatives, and sometimes subsumed under the term spatha.