Pugio

The Other Blade

Along with his sword, a Roman soldier often carried a much smaller weapon: the pugio, or dagger.

A pugio had a short, double-edged blade with a sharp point. Many had well-made handles and decorated sheaths — some with silver or brass fittings — so a dagger could be both a working weapon and a showpiece.

What Was It For?

Fighting, mostly. At close range a sharp Roman dagger was dangerous.

How soldiers actually used it day to day is harder to pin down; ancient writers rarely bothered explaining ordinary kit their readers already knew. Its clearest job was as a backup: if a soldier lost his gladius or couldn’t swing it in a crush of bodies, he still had a blade in reach.

It’s worth not calling it a Roman “utility knife,” though. Soldiers needed plain knives for chores, but that doesn’t mean the decorated military pugio was the thing they used to cut rope or slice dinner.

How Was It Carried?

The pugio rode in a sheath hung from the cingulum, the military belt, with metal rings on the sheath taking the straps.

For much of the first century, soldiers are shown wearing the dagger on the left — the opposite side from the gladius, which an ordinary soldier usually carried on the right. The exact way it hung changed over time, like the rest of Roman kit.

Did Every Soldier Carry One?

Probably not. Archaeologists find pugiones and their fittings at military sites all over the empire, so they mattered — but that’s not the same as every soldier wearing one every day.

Some of our soldiers at Bethlehem Revisited wear pugiones on their belts. It’s the right kind of equipment for the period, and it makes a practical point: when your sword isn’t an option, the answer is a short blade on your other hip.