The Spear of Longinus, also called the Holy Lance, belongs to Christian relic tradition. The Gospel of John says that a Roman soldier pierced Jesus’s side during the crucifixion, but it does not name the soldier or identify a preserved weapon. The name Longinus appears in later Christian literature.
The gospel account
John describes blood and water flowing from Jesus’s side after the piercing. The passage serves a theological purpose and connects the event with scriptural fulfillment. The other canonical gospels do not tell this episode, and none supplies a biography of the soldier.
How Longinus entered the story
Late antique texts and legends gradually name the soldier Longinus and sometimes describe his conversion, healing, or martyrdom. Those details differ by language and period. Longinus may derive from the Greek word for lance rather than a securely recorded personal name.
Several claimed lances
Relics identified as the Holy Lance have been kept in Vienna, Rome, Echmiadzin, and other places. Their histories and materials differ, and none has an uninterrupted, verifiable chain back to the first century. The object is therefore best discussed as a group of devotional claims, not one authenticated biblical artifact.