Iberian Master Smith - A master Iberian blacksmith is a much respected person in a settlement, almost in a religious sense, and his kind, widely recognized in the known world as the best in that trade. He is the person who shapes the iron, extracted from the sacred Earth, and shapes it into whatever is necessary for his costumers, be it armour, shields or weapons. The third was of paramount importance for all the tribes in Iberia; owning a weapon was a mark of manhood, and to give it up, the ultimate shame.
Each weapon is made through a ritualized process of manufacture, it is also customized to its client’s arm proportions, often richly decorated and inlaid with silver, turning it into the most expensive possession some men have.
Filon and Diodorus describe the process of making an Iberian sword: ‘[regarding] the preparation of the above-mentioned iron sheets for the so-called Hispanic swords: to test if these are good, they take the hilt in the right hand and the point in the left, holding it horizontally, then pull downwards on both ends until they touch the shoulders, then release them quickly. Once the sword is released it straightens again without showing any kind of distortion. This is due to the fact that iron is extraordinarily pure, and is worked later with fire, in such a way that it does not contain…any defect; neither does the iron get too soft or too hard. After this they beat it repeatedly when cold, as this gives the iron flexibility…They do not forge it with great hammers neither beat it with violent blows, because these, if given obliquely, twist and harden the sword throughout its entire thickness in such a way that if we tried to flex it would not yield but would break violently due to the compactness of the hardened material…They therefore beat the sheets while cold on both surfaces, hardening each side, while the inner part remains soft from not having received the blows, which reach the depths of the metal only lightly. The sword owes its flexibility to being composed of three layers, two hard and one soft in the middle.’ ‘…The process of manufacture…is very special: they bury the sheets of iron, leaving them until rust has destroyed the weak part of the metal, leaving only the most solid part of it. With this iron they produce excellent swords…’
Modern tests made on ancient swords reveal that they had achieved a high degree of perfection in tempering and cementation, and that they could only, with difficulty, be improved through modern methods.
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