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Pilum
The ''pilum'' (; : ''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. History The ''pilum ''may have originated from an Italic tribe known as the Samnites. It also may have been influenced by Celtiberian and Etruscan weapons. The ''pilum'' may have derived from a Celtiberian weapon known as the'' falarica''. Archaeological excavations have disclosed ''pila'' in tombs at the Etruscan city of Tarquinia. The oldest finds of pila are from the Etruscan settlements of Vulci and Talamone. The first identified written reference to the ''pilum'' comes from ''The Histories'' of Polybius. According to Polybius, more heavily armed Roman military soldiers used a spear called the ''hyssoí''. This may have been the ''pilum''. The precursor to the ''pilum'' was the '' hasta''. It is u ... [...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. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling (weapon), sling, bow and arrow, 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 distances, 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 Schön ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legionary
The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius''; : ''legionarii'') was a citizen soldier of the Roman army. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the Republic and Principate eras, alongside auxiliary and cavalry detachments. At its height, Roman Legionnaires were viewed as the foremost fighting force in the Roman world, with commentators such as Vegetius praising their fighting effectiveness centuries after the classical Roman legionary disappeared. Roman legionnaires were recruited from Roman citizens under age 45. They were first predominantly made up of recruits from Roman Italy, but more were recruited from the provinces as time went on. As legionnaires moved into newly conquered provinces, they helped Romanize the native population and helped integrate the disparate regions of the Roman Empire into one polity. They enlisted in a legion for 25 years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign. Legionna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasta (spear)
The ''hasta'' (: ''hastae'') was the spear carried by early Roman legionaries, for which the Roman soldiers known as ''hastati'' were named. In later Roman Republic, republican times, the ''hastati'' were re-armed with ''pilum, pila'' and ''gladius, gladii'', and the ''hasta'' was only retained by the ''triarii''. The ''hasta'' would also be reintroduced in the Late Roman army in conjunction with the spatha. Unlike the ''pilum,'' ''verutum'' and ''lancea (weapon), lancea'', the ''hasta'' was not thrown, but used for thrusting. It was about in length, with a shaft generally made from Fraxinus, ash, while the head was of iron. ''Hasta'' also referred to a spear that was a gymnastic weapon. The ''hasta prapilata'' was a spear with its point either covered by a ball or muffled. This type of spear was used by soldiers during training. ''Hasta pura'' The ''hasta pura'' was a spear used in the Roman army as a Military awards and decorations, military decoration for a soldier tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falarica
Falarica, also Phalarica, was an ancient Iberian ranged polearm that was sometimes used as an incendiary weapon. Design The Falarica was a heavy javelin with a long, thin iron head of about in length attached to a wooden shaft of about equal length. The iron head had a narrow sharp tip, which made the falarica an excellent armour-piercing weapon. The Iberians used to bind combustible material to the metal shaft of the weapon and use the falarica as an incendiary projectile. The incendiary javelin would hit the shields or siege works of the enemy often setting them ablaze. The falarica could also be launched by the use of spear throwers or siege engines to increase its range and velocity. the besieged were protected and the enemy kept away from the gates by the falarica, which many arms at once were wont to poise... when hurled like a thunderbolt from the topmost walls of the citadel, it clove the furrowed air with a flickering flame, even as a fiery meteor speeding from heav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire following the War of Actium. During this period, Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean world. Roman society at the time was primarily a cultural mix of Latins (Italic tribe), Latin and Etruscan civilization, Etruscan societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan, and Greek cultural elements, which is especially visible in the Ancient Roman religion and List of Roman deities, its pantheon. Its political organisation developed at around the same time as direct democracy in Ancient Greece, with collective and annual magistracies, overseen by Roman Senate, a senate. There were annual elections, but the republican system was an elective olig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angon
The ''angon'' (Medieval Greek , Old High German ''ango'', Old English ''anga'' "hook, point, spike") is a type of javelin that was 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 Amalaric, 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 Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samnites
The Samnites () were an ancient Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan language, Oscan-speaking Osci, people, who originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they formed a confederation consisting of four tribes: the Hirpini, Caudini, Caraceni (tribe), Caraceni, and Pentri. Ancient Greek historians considered the Umbri as the ancestors of the Samnites. Their migration was in a southward direction, according to the rite of ver sacrum. Although allied together against the Gauls in 354 BC, they later became enemies of the Roman Republic, Romans and fought them in a series of Samnite Wars, three wars. Despite an overwhelming victory at the Battle of the Caudine Forks (321 BC), the Samnites were subjugated in 290 BC. Although severely weakened, the Samnites would still side against the Romans, first in the Pyrrhic War and then with Hannibal in the Second Punic War. They also foug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and ''Moralia'', a collection of essays and speeches. Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was possibly named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (). Family Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea, about east of Delphi, in the Greek region of Boeotia. His family was long established in the town; his father was named Autobulus and his grandfather was named Lamprias. His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogues, which speak of Timon in particular in the most affectionate terms. Studies and life Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy in Athens under Ammonius of Athens, Ammonius from AD 66 to 67. He attended th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Lives
* Culture of ancient Greece Culture of ancient Rome Ancient Greek biographical works Ethics literature History books about ancient Rome Cultural depictions of Gaius Marius Cultural depictions of Mark Antony Cultural depictions of Cicero Depictions of Julius Caesar in literature Cultural depictions of Pompey Cultural depictions of Marcus Junius Brutus Cultural depictions of Marcus Licinius Crassus Cultural depictions of Theseus Cultural depictions of Romulus and Remus Cultural depictions of Cato the Younger Cultural depictions of Sulla Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great The ''Parallel Lives'' (, ''Bíoi Parállēloi''; ) is a series of 48 biographies of famous men written in Greek by the Greco-Roman philosopher, historian, and Apollonian priest Plutarch, probably at the beginning of the second century. The lives are arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. While any historically valuable similarities are often forced, these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commentarii De Bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; ), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' (), is Julius Caesar's first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it, Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Celtic and Germanic peoples in Gaul who opposed Roman conquest. The "Gaul" to which Caesar refers is ambiguous, as the term had various connotations in Roman writing and discourse during Caesar's time. Generally, Gaul included all of the regions primarily inhabited by Celts, aside from the province of Gallia Narbonensis (modern-day Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon), which had already been conquered in Caesar's time, therefore encompassing the rest of modern France, Belgium, Western Germany, and parts of Switzerland. As the Roman Republic made inroads deeper into Celtic territory and conquered more land, the definition of "Gaul" shifted. Concurrently, "Gaul" was also used in common parlance as a synonym for "unc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armour
Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or from a potentially dangerous environment or activity (e.g. cycling, construction sites, etc.). Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour is used on warships, armoured fighting vehicles, and some combat aircraft, mostly ground attack aircraft. A second use of the term ''armour'' describes Division (military)#Armoured division, armoured forces, #Armoured fighting vehicles, armoured weapons, and their role in combat. After the development of armoured warfare, tanks and mechanised infantry and their combat formations came to be referred to collectively as "armour". Etymology The word "armour" began to appear in the Middle Ages as a derivati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
