The Braganza Brooch warrior and his weapons
Fig. 89: Sword hilt from the sword in the Osuna monument, probably a prototype of the gladius hispaniensis (Paris, St. Gennain-en-Laye. Photo author)
Overall, the sword from the 'Braganza Brooch' looks like a straight-blade sword of a type common enough in northeastern Iberia by the late 3rd and 2 nd centuries BC - but also occasionally documented in Andalusia (Fig. 88). This model is clearly inspired by a late La Tene I Celtic prototype, but some of its features -some scabbard details and pommel- seem to suggest a Peninsular rather than any other provenance.
A warrior and his weapons
To sum up, our warrior's panoply thus consists of a relatively Late Montefortino-type helmet without its cheekpieces, a flat oval shield with spina and metal boss, and a straight sword with trilobate pommel, iron sheet scabbard with elaborate chape-end suspended from a belt, that fits well with an Iberian version ofthe la Tene l-II model from Gaul, in itselfthe model for the Roman gladius hispaniensis. While the figure of the warrior is carefully modelled (and this has been studied elsewhere), nudity is his most noticeable feature. There are two ways of interpreting this: as a faithful depiction of a real custom, or as a symbolic gesture. Most studies, focusing on the supposedly Celtic nature of the fibula, have cited ancient sources describing naked Celtic warriors in battle (e.g. Telamon 225 BC, see Polybius
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