|
Spiculum
A spiculum is a late Roman spear that replaced the pilum as the infantryman's main throwing javelin around 250 AD. Scholars suppose that it could have resulted from the gradual combination of the pilum and two German spears, the angon and the bebra. As more and more Germans joined the Roman army, their culture and traditions became a driving force for change. The spiculum was better than the old pilum when used as a thrusting spear, but still maintained some of the former weapon's penetrative power when thrown. Vegetius mentions the spiculum in his military manual, but some scholars maintain that the spiculum was simply a different name for the pilum. Whatever the case, most historians accept that the spiculum evolved from the earlier javelins used by the Roman army. The main difference between the spiculum and the pilum was the length of the thin point. The spiculum tended to have a much shorter iron point. Thus, the spiculum was a bit shorter than its ancestor, perhaps 190 cm l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilum
The ''pilum'' (; plural ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by either a socket or a flat tang. Design A ''pilum'' had a total weight of between , with the versions produced during the earlier Republic being slightly heavier than those produced in the later Empire. The weapon had a hard pyramidal tip, but the shank was sometimes made of softer iron. The softness could cause the shank to bend after impact and so render the weapon useless to the enemy. Some believe that the ''pilum'' was not meant to bend after impact but that bending came from improper handling/removal of the weapon when it became stuck in an object. If a ''pilum'' struck a shield it might embed itself, the bending of the shank would force the enemy to discard his shield as unusable without removing the ''pilum'', which would be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilum
The ''pilum'' (; plural ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by either a socket or a flat tang. Design A ''pilum'' had a total weight of between , with the versions produced during the earlier Republic being slightly heavier than those produced in the later Empire. The weapon had a hard pyramidal tip, but the shank was sometimes made of softer iron. The softness could cause the shank to bend after impact and so render the weapon useless to the enemy. Some believe that the ''pilum'' was not meant to bend after impact but that bending came from improper handling/removal of the weapon when it became stuck in an object. If a ''pilum'' struck a shield it might embed itself, the bending of the shank would force the enemy to discard his shield as unusable without removing the ''pilum'', which would be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Military Personal Equipment
Roman military personal equipment was produced in large numbers to established patterns, and used in an established manner. These standard patterns and uses were called the ''res militaris'' or ''disciplina''. Its regular practice during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire led to military excellence and victory. The equipment gave the Romans a very distinct advantage over their barbarian enemies, especially so in the case of armour. This does not mean that every Roman soldier had better equipment than the richer men among his opponents. According to Edward Luttwak, Roman equipment was not of a better quality than that used by the majority of Rome's adversaries. Other historians and writers have stated that the Roman army's need for large quantities of "mass produced" equipment after the Marian Reforms and subsequent civil wars led to a decline in the quality of Roman equipment compared to the earlier Republican era: Initially, they used weapons based on Greek and Etruscan mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angon
The ''angon'' (Medieval Greek , Old High German ''ango'', Old English ''anga'' "hook, point, spike") was a type of javelin used during the Early Middle Ages by the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Goths, and other Germanic peoples. It was similar to, and probably derived from, the ''pilum'' used by the Roman army and had a barbed head and long narrow socket or shank made of iron mounted on a wooden haft. It was rare on the battlefield, despite the claim by the Greek historian Agathias, being found mostly in the grave goods of the wealthy.Halsall, p. 165. The ''Fragmentary Chronicle of Saragossa'' credits an ''ango'' with killing King Amalaric of the Visigoths. By the 7th century it had ceased to be used. It also went out of fashion, together with other forms of throwing spears and javelins, in Francia, by the early 7th century. They are found in abundance in war-graves in Illerup-Ådal, Denmark. They are also quite common in Norwegian graves from the Migration Era. In Finland, a local ver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetius
Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also referred to as '' De re militari''), and the lesser-known ''Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae'', a guide to veterinary medicine. He identifies himself in the opening of his work ''Epitoma rei militaris'' as a Christian. Dating of work The latest event alluded to in his ''Epitoma rei militaris'' is the death of the Emperor Gratian (383); the earliest attestation of the work is a ''subscriptio'' by Flavius Eutropius, writing in Constantinople in 450, which appears in one of two families of manuscripts, suggesting that a division of the manuscript tradition had already occurred. Despite Eutropius' location in Constantinople, the scholarly consensus is that Vegetius wrote in the Western Roman Empire.Walter Goffart. The date and purposes of Vegetius' D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pole Weapon
A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantly melee weapons, with a subclass of spear-like designs fit for both thrusting and throwing. Because many polearms were adapted from agricultural implements or other fairly abundant tools, and contained relatively little metal, they were cheap to make and readily available. When warfare would break out and the belligerents had a poorer class who could not pay for dedicated military weapons, leaders would often appropriate tools as cheap weapons. The cost of training was comparatively minimal, since these conscripted farmers had spent most of their lives using these "weapons" in the fields. This made polearms the favored weapon of peasant levies and peasant rebellions the world over. Polearms can be divided into three broad categories: those ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javelin
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the aid of a hand-held mechanism. However, devices do exist to assist the javelin thrower in achieving greater distance, such as spear-throwers or the amentum. A warrior or soldier armed primarily with one or more javelins is a javelineer. The word javelin comes from Middle English and it derives from Old French ''javelin'', a diminutive of ''javelot'', which meant spear. The word ''javelot'' probably originated from one of the Celtic languages. Prehistory There is archaeological evidence that javelins and throwing sticks were already in use by the last phase of the Lower Paleolithic. Seven spear-like objects were found in a coal mine in the city of Schöningen, Germany. Stratigraphy, Stratigraphic dating indicates that the weapons are abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verutum
The ''verutum'', plural ''veruta'' ( la, spit), was a short javelin used in the Roman army. This javelin was used by the ''velites'' for skirmishing purposes, unlike the heavier ''pilum'', which was used by the ''hastati'' and ''principes'' for weakening the enemy before advancing into close combat. The shafts were about long, substantially shorter than the ''pilum'', and the point measured about long. The ''verutum'' had either an iron shank like the ''pilum'' or a tapering metal head. It was sometimes thrown with the aid of a throwing strap, or ''amentum''. The ''verutum'' was probably adopted from the Samnites and the Volsci but there is not enough proof for that. During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Roman light infantry (''velites'') would carry seven ''veruta'' into combat. It proved to be quite an effective weapon, even against war elephants as proven in the battle of Zama. In the late 2nd century BC, the ''verutum'' was taken out of service along with the ''veles'', but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancea (weapon)
The ''Lancea'' was a javelin used in ancient Rome. According to the OED, the word originally came from the Celtiberian language, also cf. λόγχη (''lonche''), the Greek term for lance. One kind of ''lancea'', possibly known as the ''lancea pugnatoria'' or "the fighting lance" was used as a thrusting weapon by cavalrymen. This weapon was used by cavalrymen as it was lighter and easier to use than the pilum. The lancea was also used by auxiliaries. legionaries would use the ''lancea'' if the occasion called for it. Arrian equipped his army with the weapon during a battle with the Alans. Soldiers that used it were known as '' lancearii''. It is unclear how the ''lancea'' was distinguished from the hastae. Many ''lancea'' had amenta, although not all. This kind of javelin also had short wooden shafts and small leaf-shaped metal heads. Sometimes the heads had elongated points which may have been used to increase the penetration of the spear. References Bibliography * * * * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Roman Legionary Equipment
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BCAD 500. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages varies between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution, which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Weapons
This is a list of historical pre-modern weapons grouped according to their uses, with rough classes set aside for very similar weapons. Some weapons may fit more than one category (e.g. the spear may be used either as a polearm or as a projectile), and the earliest gunpowder weapons which fit within the period are also included. Offensive weapons Melee weapons Hand or fist weapons and fans Single-handed weapons not resembling a straight dagger blade, usually wielded without wrist action; often protects the forearm. * Bagh nakha, tiger claws (Indian) * Brass knuckles, knuckle dusters (European) * Cestus, bladed cestus, caestus, myrmex, sfere (Mediterranean) * Deer Horn Knives (Chinese) * Emeici (Chinese) * Finger knife (African) * Gauntlet (European) * Indian parrying weapon * Japanese fan, iron fan * Katar, suwaiya (कटार) (Indian) * Korean fan, mubuchae (무부채), tempered birch fan * Larim fighting bracelet, nyepel (African) * Maduvu, buckhorn parrying stick, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javelins
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the aid of a hand-held mechanism. However, devices do exist to assist the javelin thrower in achieving greater distance, such as spear-throwers or the amentum. A warrior or soldier armed primarily with one or more javelins is a javelineer. The word javelin comes from Middle English and it derives from Old French ''javelin'', a diminutive of ''javelot'', which meant spear. The word ''javelot'' probably originated from one of the Celtic languages. Prehistory There is archaeological evidence that javelins and throwing sticks were already in use by the last phase of the Lower Paleolithic. Seven spear-like objects were found in a coal mine in the city of Schöningen, Germany. Stratigraphic dating indicates that the weapons are about 400,000 ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
