The scissor (pl. scissores) was a type of Roman gladiator. [1] [2] [3] Very little is known about them [4] [5] and they were not mentioned after the first century BCE. [3] [1] The name, from the verb scindere ("to cut") means cleaver, carver, or slasher. [6] [1] [7] [4] Historian Marcus Junkelmann identified what he termed a scissor in a relief in the late 1980s. The figure, however, has also been identified as an arbelas by other historians. [1] [7] [3] It is possible that the scissores went extinct or were later reclassed as arbelai. [1] [3] The scissores may have evolved from the secutor due to the similarity in armor, helmet, and gladius, as well as being "anti- retiarius." [1]
Scissores wore a full-face helmet similar to that of the hoplomachi or the secutores, and wore heavy armor. They held a gladius in one hand and a "single-edged curved blade," similar to a mezzaluna or an arbelas blade, on his forearm. [1] [8] [3] This semicircular blade was attached to a steel tube that spanned the arm. It served as a shield in addition to a weapon and a handle inside provided increased mobility. [9]