Authenticity and Scholarship

Christian tradition since the High Middle Ages has honoured the Vienna lance as the weapon of the Roman soldier, named Longinus in later legend, who pierced the side of the crucified Jesus. Modern examination does not support that identification. The custodian museum classifies the object as a Carolingian winged lance of the eighth century, and in 2003 the metallurgist Robert Feather, permitted to study it closely, concluded that the spearhead dates to about the seventh century, many centuries after the Crucifixion.

The one component consistent with the first century is the small iron pin fixed into the blade as a supposed nail of the Cross, which does not authenticate the lance itself. Because the principal object post-dates the events of the Passion by roughly seven hundred years, scholarship rejects the claim that it is the lance of Golgotha, and it is classed here as debunked while its genuine importance as imperial regalia is preserved.