Noric steel

Noric steel

Noric steel was a famously high quality steel from Noricum during the time of the Roman Empire.

The proverbial hardness of Noric steel is expressed by Ovid: "...durior [...] ferro quod noricus excoquit ignis..."[1] and it was largely used for the weapons of the Roman military[2].

The iron ore was quarried at two mountains in modern Austria still called Erzberg "ore mountain" today, one at Hüttenberg, Carinthia[3] and the other at Eisenerz, Styria[4], separated by ca. 70 km.

Buchwald[5] identifies a sword of ca. 300 BC found in Krenovica, Moravia as an early example of Noric steel due to a chemical composition consistent with Erzberg ore. A more recent sword, dating to ca. 100 BC, found in Zemplin, eastern Slovakia, is of extraordinary length for the period (95 cm) and carries a stamped Latin inscription (?V?TILICI?O), identified as a "fine sword of Noric steel" by Buchwald[6]. A center of manufacture was at Magdalensberg[7].

References

  1. ^ "...harder than iron tempered by Noric fire [was Anaxarete towards the advances of Iphis']...", Metamorphoses, 14.712
  2. ^ "Noricus ensis," Horace, Odes, i. 16.9
  3. ^ 46°56′N 14°34′E / 46.933°N 14.567°E / 46.933; 14.567
  4. ^ 47°32′N 14°54′E / 47.533°N 14.9°E / 47.533; 14.9
  5. ^ 2005:118
  6. ^ 2005:120
  7. ^ Buchwald 2005:124

Bibliography

  • Vagn Fabritius Buchwald, Iron and steel in ancient times, ch. 5: "Celtic Europe and Noric Steel" (2005), ISBN 8773043087.

See also


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