A hastiliarius was a weapons instructor in the Roman Empire. They trained raw troops with standard weapons and fighting techniques.

Meaning and root

"Hastiliarius" comes from hastati, which refer to raw troops in the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval continu ...

. These raw troops often made up the front line of a Roman battle line, using originally spears then swords as their primary weapons. The name hastati comes from the Latin ''

hasta Hasta may refer to: Latin *Hasta (spear) *Hasta Pompeia, a Roman town today known as Asti Sanskrit *Hasta (hand), a Sanskrit word meaning hand gesture or position *Hasta (unit), a measure of length *Hasta (nakshatra), the thirteenth nakshatra of ...

'', meaning spear. This suggests that the hastiliarius commonly trained soldiers to use spears and swords.

Duties

A hastiliarius prepared the inexperienced, "green" hastati for battle. Hastati would often be put in the front to avoid losing experienced soldiers and prevent them from running from the battle. The hastiliarius would prepare these new soldiers to prove their skill on the battlefield and become a basic soldier in the Roman Army.

References

* * *{{cite web, last=Rickard, first=J, title=Hastati, url=http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/concepts_hastati.html Infantry units and formations of ancient Rome