Ancient Roman soldiers carry so much weight when they were out in the battlefield. The armors and helmets alone were very heavy. These weights limit a solder to move strategically during sword duels. So in order to compensate the weight, they made their swords shorter than their European counterparts.

As time passed and the kingdom of Rome expanded all the way to Asia Minor, the length of the swords evolved and became longer. Roman swords were then adapted to weapons of other countries and even the design was also improved. From the heavy metal armor that was used to be so much burden to soldiers, it was reduced to minimum and was changed to tough leathers and cow hides.