was a javelin designed to be thrown as the battle lines closed. The legionary then drew his short sword and habitually kicked the living tar out of those enemies who were armed with spears.
Oddly, in almost every Hollywood recreation of a Roman battle they show them carrying their pila but not throwing them.
stan gilliam wrote:What about the plain old spear, that you threw like a javelin or stabbed into a foodsupply or enemy?
Large points are often referred to as spear points.
After the exctintcion of the mega-fauna, spears became largely ceremonial. Most of the beautifully crafted spear points you see were found as grave goods. They were knapped specifically for that.
So, from about 8,000 years ago spears were redundant, you say?
Well, 5.000 years later that 'redundant weapon' was the main heavy armament of the armies of the ancient Egyptians, the Macedonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Phoenicians, etc. etc. etc. All managed to conquer huge empires with them.
Not bad for a weapon that was already redundant for 5,000 years, eh?
I'm talking about in america. Stone tipped stuff, ya know. I never said redundant either.
Another version of the spear: the lance or pike http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_%28weapon%29 is curiously absent from the line-up in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:A ... _equipment.
Not for throwing, but for poking. Longer than, but obviously inspired by spears. The Romans had 6 metre (20 ft) pikes. Whole cohorts of them. The infantry. Those cohorts with their pikes between their shields, advancing in tight formations, acted as massive battering rams on the battle field and provided the main thrust in battle strategy.
In Europe pike formations, as a strategic infantry weapon, were used up until the 18th century! Then replaced by bayoneted muskets.
By the end of the Western Empire the classic "legionary" had lost his usefulness on a battlefield dominated by cavalry. Even the Romans had gone to a (principally) heavy cavalry defensive force not terribly different from the knights of the middle ages.
The legions were reduced to manning defensive fortifications. Roman cavalry certainly did use lances, a la the aforementioned knights.
In military doctrine since the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Persians and the Mongols, all through the centuries upto and including World War I, the cavalry – as in horses – was principally an Offensive (and recconaissance) force. Not defensive. Don't confuse military battles with chess, where it can have either role.
"Defense" in the sense that the Romans were not expanding by the 4th century AD and were most certainly on the defensive. Moreover, they were also reacting to their adversaries by being forced to abandon their traditional infantry-based military formations.
Rokcet------Think you have the 20' spear people mixed up. It was the Greeks. The Roman legionares carried two throwing units about six feet long with a mild steel(soft) shaft which would bend when it struck something---thus the enemy could not throw it back.
Not just the Greeks, gunny. The Romans too (and in FAR larger numbers). And just about everybody since: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_%28weapon%29
And before the Greeks all those other empires – the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Persians, etc. etc. also were in on this. Very long pikes always were standard heavy infantry weapons. Those cohorts with 2-javelins-per-legionair were a form of light infantry. And the weaponry in many of those, light infantry, cohorts were not standard, but rather abberrations, deviations of doctrine, experiments. Some more successful than others of course. And this one with the 2 javelins apparently not too successful judging by its following in later centuries: none.
Some people credit the stirup as one of the most improtant inventions of all time. It allowed the Huns to shot bows from horseback, and to invade Europe.
Roman Calvary, at least early calvary, did not use stirups. I can't imagine the horsemanship required to go into battle bareback...
Rokcet Scientist wrote:Those cohorts with 2-javelins-per-legionair were a form of light infantry.
Um....no.
In the early Republican period the Romans light troops, the velites, were still armed with a couple of pila but wore no armor giving them mobility at the expense of defense. The first and second lines, the hastati and principes, carried two pila but the third line, the triarii, were armed with spears although not the 20 foot Macedonian style pike you are referring to.
After the reforms of Gaius Marius, (c. 106 BC) the legion was made up of 10 cohorts of heavy infantry armed with pila, gladius and the scutum or oblong shield. Roman commanders generally recruited auxilliary cavalry, skirmisher, archers and slingers in the areas they operated. By the Imperial period, all that changed was the armor as the legionary kit came to include the Lorica segmentata but the armaments remained essentially unchanged until much later.
Rokcet Scientist wrote:Those cohorts with 2-javelins-per-legionair were a form of light infantry.
Um....no.
In the early Republican period the Romans light troops, the velites, were still armed with a couple of pila but wore no armor giving them mobility at the expense of defense. The first and second lines, the hastati and principes, carried two pila but the third line, the triarii, were armed with spears although not the 20 foot Macedonian style pike you are referring to.
After the reforms of Gaius Marius, (c. 106 BC) the legion was made up of 10 cohorts of heavy infantry armed with pila, gladius and the scutum or oblong shield. Roman commanders generally recruited auxilliary cavalry, skirmisher, archers and slingers in the areas they operated. By the Imperial period, all that changed was the armor as the legionary kit came to include the Lorica segmentata but the armaments remained essentially unchanged until much later.
And ALL weaponry that was used before or since 106 BC, and the formations they were used in, is negligible? That would be about a thousand years of weapons development and use that suddenly needs to be ignored?
Sorry, Bob, but imho that is the very definition of tunnel vision...
BTW: nice pic. But that is a guard. Thus equipped with a guard's weapons. It is not a heavy infantry legionair as he would be kitted out for a battle. If anything, that guard could be described as a light infantry legionair.
) while moving.
