I’ve previously blogged about the falcata (Spanish sword) as an ethic marker on republican coins. Thus I found this passage of interest (Livy 31.34):
Philip’s men had been accustomed to fighting with Greeks and Illyrians and had only seen wounds inflicted by javelins and arrows and in rare instances by lances. But when they saw bodies dismembered with the Spanish sword, arms cut off from the shoulder, heads struck off from the trunk, bowels exposed and other horrible wounds, they recognised the style of weapon and the kind of man against whom they had to fight, and a shudder of horror ran through the ranks.
nam qui hastis sagittisque et rara lanceis facta uolnera uidissent, cum Graecis Illyriisque pugnare adsueti, postquam gladio Hispaniensi detruncata corpora bracchiis cum humero abscisis aut tota ceruice desecta diuisa a corpore capita patentiaque uiscera et foeditatem aliam uolnerum uiderunt, aduersus quae tela quosque uiros pugnandum foret pauidi uolgo cernebant.
There are actually a number of passages in Latin that discuss Spanish swords.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 