Noric steel is a historical steel from Noricum, a kingdom located in modern Austria and Slovenia.
The proverbial hardness of Noric steel is expressed by Ovid: "...durior [...] ferro quod noricus excoquit ignis..." which roughly translates to "...harder than iron which Noric fire tempers [was Anaxarete towards the advances of Iphis]..." [1] and it was widely used for the weapons of the Roman military after Noricum joined the Empire in 16 BC. [2]
The iron ore was quarried at two mountains in modern Austria still called Erzberg "ore mountain" today, one at Hüttenberg, Carinthia [3] and the other at Eisenerz, Styria, [4] separated by c. 70 km (43 mi). The latter is the site of the modern Erzberg mine.
Buchwald [5] : 118 identifies a sword of c. 300 BC found in Krenovica, Moravia as an early example of Noric steel due to a chemical composition consistent with Erzberg ore. A more recent sword, dating to c. 100 BC and found in Zemplin, eastern Slovakia, is of extraordinary length for the period (95 cm, 37 in) and carries a stamped Latin inscription (?V?TILICI?O), identified as a "fine sword of Noric steel" by Buchwald. [5] : 120 A center of manufacture was at Magdalensberg. [5] : 124