Spatha

The spatha is a straight broad sword that was originated during the Roman Empire with the Romans. In the colosseum, this was the gladiators' main and usually only weapon. The front ranks of the Roman army also started using the spatha because it provided better range than the previous gladius, which than became the middle ranks' main weapon. Warriors in England used this a lot in England, but not nearly as much as the Germanic warriors at that time. There is tons of archaeological evidence that suggests that this was the main weapon of the Germanic tribes for a while. The vikings later adopted this sword as well. In the late medieval centuries, many varieties of the spatha were created, but not are officially recognized as spatha swords, only derivatives.