Thank you very much for the responses guys! Interesting perspective DrDavid with the term cica (=incision) and the term sica. I always very much admire linguistics and how much pertinant information can be derived from word and term associations, semantics and transliteration.
Rivkin, actually my interest in this topic began with the recent media articles and National Geographic documentary on the ancient document holding the text of the Gospel of Judas, which has recently surfaced after being virtually lost for nearly 1700 years. My reference to the Sicarii comes from an article from the Dallas Morning News (by Susan Hogan-Albach, section G, April 12,2003). In it the author discusses possibilities for the name/word (?) commonly associated with Judas, Iscariot. She asks if it is a surname, name of a town, or "...a corruption of the Latin word 'sicarius' referring to a dagger carried by terrorists known as the Sicarii".
While there are numerous interpretations of the political dealings and motivations of this group, it is stated, as noted, that they were known for assassinations, with these daggers presumably. Possibly the daggers were simply symbolic for the militant function of the group?
In any case, the illustration of the gladiator with a 'sica' gives a reasonable idea of the form, but as you suggest, possibly derivative of the larger swords.
It seems like clandestine activity such as assassinations would call for a more concealable weapon though.
Ariel, thank you for that thread, which is indeed helpful, I must have missed that one! It really is interesting to see the types of weapons used during these Biblical times, a period it seems not often dealt with in weaponry.
Thank you again guys!
All the best,
Jim