Noric steel was a 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 . The latter is the site of the modern Erzberg mine.
Buchwald identifies a sword of 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 and found in Zemplin, eastern Slovakia, is of extraordinary length for the period (95cm (37inches)) and carries a stamped Latin inscription (?V?TILICI?O), identified as a "fine sword of Noric steel" by Buchwald. A center of manufacture was at Magdalensberg.