Budgetary Implications for Pillar II

In the 8th to 7th centuries BC, spearheads were made of bronze and possibly sometimes of iron. The size of the spearheads varied greatly from about 0.01 to 0.5 m (4 to 20 in). Some spears found in graves had a total length of 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 ft). In the 4th century BC

the spear (a thrusting weapon) was superseded by a heavy javelin (a throwing weapon), probably of Etrus-can origin. It became the primary offensive weapon of the Roman legion and was known as the pilum, and in the 4th century BCit was probably used by the hastati.

In the mid-2nd century BC the hastati and principes carried two long javelins (pila). By now there were two methods of attaching the pilum head to the wooden shaft—a socket or a flat tang. The thin pilum had a long iron socketed head over 0.9 m (3 ft) long. The thick pilum had a broad flat tang secured by two rivets. There were various other types of spear and javelin.

By the mid-2nd century BClong spears (hastae) were carried by the triarii. At this time the velites were armed with javelins (hastae velitares), smaller versions of the thin pilum. They had a small head 0.25 to 0.3 m (10 to 12 in) long and a wooden shaft about 0.9 m (3 ft) long. In the mid-2nd century BC

the cavalry carried a sturdy spear with a butt spike that could be used if the spear broke.

Marius is credited with a modification to the pilum whereby one of the two iron rivets that held the spearhead to the wooden shaft was replaced by a wooden peg. This shattered on impact, disabling the weapon so that it could not be thrown back by the enemy. Marius previously found that the long iron head did not always bend on impact and the pilum could be reused by the enemy. Caesar overcame the problem by tempering the point but not the shaft of the pilum head. It was the heavy version of the pilum that was modified in this way; the lighter version continued to have a socketed iron head and shaft into which the wooden element of the shaft was fitted.

Both types of pilum remained in use throughout the 1st and 2nd centuries, with heads about 0.65 to 0.75 m (26 to 30 in) long. In the early empire the flat-tanged pilum was made lighter, and a heavier pilum was introduced with a round lead weight inserted at the junction of the wood and iron.

Barbed examples are found in the 3rd century.

2.7 Tombstone of a soldier from the VIII legion Augusta who served 21 years and died aged 40. He is shown with a rectangular scutum, a pilum, a sword, helmet and apron. Late 1st century. (Photo: Ralph Jackson)

A spear with a barbed head weighted with lead is found in the 3rd and 4th centuries and was probably known as the plumbata. The head had a split socket, although some have also been found with spiked tangs. Legionaries in the 4th century were armed with a weighted dart (martiobarbulus). In the late 4th century the infantry was still armed with throwing weapons—the spiculum, verutum and plumbata, all possibly derived from the pilum. The spiculum had an iron head with a triangular section and was 0.2 m (8 in) long, with a wooden shaft about 1.6 m (5 ft 6 in) long. It had an ovoid weight, probably lead, between the wooden shaft and the short iron head.

The verutum was originally called a vericulum and

had a head 120 mm (4 ³/4in) long and a wooden shaft just over 1 m (3 ft 3 in).

The contus was a heavy lance about 3.5 m (12 ft) long used two-handed without a shield by the cav-alry. The lance could be used by cavalry, either by charging or throwing. Lance heads were made of iron, and the lance was about 1.8 m (6 ft) long.

Daggers

Daggers (pugiones, sing. pugio) are known from the 8th century BC, when they can be divided into three types based on the shape of their blades (leaf-shaped, triangular, or straight-sided blades that narrow two-thirds down to form a stiletto-type point). The blades were of iron or bronze, 0.25 to 0.4 m (10 to 16 in) long. Handles were of wood, bone or even stone capped by a T-shaped pommel. Little is known of daggers until the 1st century ADwhen they were very similar to their Spanish ancestors, with blades 0.2 to 0.25 m (8 to 10 in) long. They had a distinctive waisted blade and a central midrib. The dagger seems to have disappeared from legionary equipment by the 2nd century, to reappear in a much cruder form as part of the auxiliary equipment in the early 3rd century. In the early empire legionaries wore the dagger on the left, while centurions wore the dagger on the right.

In the 8th to 7th centuries BCsheaths or scab-bards of daggers were usually made of beaten bronze with a cast bronze chape. Later there were two main types of scabbard—one of iron plates joined together at the sides, usually highly decorated on the front plate with silver inlay and with a lining of wood or leather. The second type was of organic material (wood and leather) with a decorated iron plate on the front face. Both types were probably contemporary in the 1st century.

Swords

In the 8th to 7th centuries BC swords varied from long slashing weapons to shorter stabbing ones. The longer ones are known as antennae swords, after their 2.8 An auxiliary soldier of the Ermine Street Guard

wearing a helmet, cloak (sagum), tunic, sandals, and lorica hamata armor. He has a belt for his sword and an apron, and carries a pilum and a flat oval shield.

cast bronze handle with spiral horns. The blades were usually of bronze, sometimes iron, and were about 0.3 to 0.55 m (12 to 22 in) long. The short Spanish sword seems to have been adopted from Spanish aux-iliaries serving with Hannibal in the late 3rd century

BC. In the mid-2nd century BC, the hastati were armed with this short cut-and-thrust sword (gladius hispaniensis, Spanish sword). It had a two-edged blade about 0.5 m (20 in) long tapering to a point.

In the 1st century ADswords still had the dagger shape and long tapering point of the earlier Spanish sword. The blades were 0.5 to 0.55 m (20 to 22 in) long. Later on in the century a new sword was intro-duced with straight parallel sides and a shorter point. It owes little to the Spanish sword but was still called the gladius hispaniensis. The blade was 0.45 to 0.55 m (18 to 22 in) long. In the late 2nd and early 3rd century the gladius was gradually replaced by the spatha, a sword about 0.7 m (2 ft 4 in) long. By the end of the 3rd century all legionaries carried it.

In the early empire much of the cavalry was Celtic and used the long spatha sword with a blade length of about 0.6 to 0.85 m (2 ft to 2 ft 9 in) derived from the long Celtic sword. At that time, legionaries and cavalrymen wore the sword on the right, the centurions wore it on the left and the aquilifer wore it on either side. From about 200 legionaries and cavalrymen began to wear the sword on the left side, possibly because of the abandon-ment of the scutum and adoption of the longer spatha, the main type of sword from the late 2nd century.

SCABBARDS

In the 8th to 7th centuries BCscabbards for shorter swords were made of beaten bronze with a cast bronze chape. Antenna swords had wooden scab-bards, possibly covered in leather. Later on in the republic and empire, scabbards were usually of wood and leather strengthened by bronze bindings.

Belts

During the early 1st century the sword and dagger were suspended from two individual belts that

crossed over at the front and back. From these belts was suspended an “apron” of metal discs riveted to leather straps. Later a single military waist belt (cin-gulum militare or balteus) was substituted to which the dagger and apron were attached, but the sword was suspended from a baldric on the right (later the left) side. The belts were covered with rectangular plates usually made of bronze plated with tin, and many with enamel decoration from the 2nd century.

The aprons continued to be worn with up to eight straps.

During the 3rd century the cingulum was replaced by a leather belt often worn on the hips rather than the waist. The sword was suspended from a wide decorated baldric. In the 4th century the influence of mercenaries led to the belt and baldric being aban-doned in favor of the Germanic belt.

Clothing

Two types of cloak were worn by auxiliaries and legionaries—the sagum (draped around the shoul-ders and fastened with a brooch) and the paenula (a large cape with an opening in the center). Footwear consisted of the caliga, a heavy hobnailed sandal, although in the later empire civilian footwear appears to have been worn instead.

Bows

Archers used the composite bow, which was much smaller than the English longbow. It was made of wood strengthened on the inside of the curve with horn and on the outside with sinew. A pair of horn nocks, to which the string was attached, reinforced each end. Arrows had wood or reed shafts, and arrow-heads were of iron, sometimes bone. There were also fire arrows. When not in use, bows were unstrung to preserve the elastic qualities of the sinew and were kept for protection in a leather bow case or quiver.

Arrows were also kept in the case, especially as the glue attaching the fletchings to the shaft could be affected by rain.

Caltrops

Caltrops (triboli, sing. tribolus) were sets of usually four iron spikes joined at an angle at their blunt end.

When dropped, one spike of the caltrop always pro-jected upward. They were scattered on the ground against cavalry. Very large wooden caltrops formed from wooden stakes could also defend ditches and the tops of palisades.

Artillery

Artillery was used in battles and in sieges. From the late republic the Romans used bolt-shooting machines and stone-throwers that had twisted ropes for torsion, and worked on the principles of a cross-bow. The ballistae were two-armed stone-throwing machines that could hurl stones up to 0.5 km (a third of a mile) distance and could breach walls of brick and wood, although they were less effective against dressed stone. This type of machine may have con-tinued in use to the early 3rd century but was obso-lete by the 4th century.

Catapultae (sing. catapulta) were two-armed machines that fired iron bolts or arrows. Some were fairly portable, and the smaller ones were called scor-piones. They had a range of 300 m (990 ft) or more.

The standard bolt-head had a square-sectioned tapering point, a neck of varying length and a socket, and was mostly 60 to 80 mm (2 to 3 in) long. In the 4th century the term ballista was used for bolt or arrow-shooting machines, and the stone-throwing ballistae was used for bolt- or arrow-shooting machines, and the stone-throwing ballista had gone out of use. The carro-ballista seems to have been mounted on a cart drawn by mules.

A new machine for hurling stones was used in the 4th century. This was the onager (pl. onagri), a fairly primitive one-armed torsion engine or sling that hurled large stone balls like a mortar. Due to vibra-tion, it had to be fired on a solid platform. Ancient writers sometimes incorrectly called this machine a scorpio.