Roman Weapons

Here is a buying guide for the increasing number of replica Roman war artifacts. In authentic Rome the more decorated the higher the rank of the soldier, this being separate to insignia and standards, due to a general self-financing will spend with priority.

• Type: Arming sword
• Place of origin: Ancient Rome as gladius, origins in Celtic Europe earlier.
• In service: 4th century BC - 3rd century AD.
• Used by Legionary in Roman service, Roman-influenced other forces.
• Wars: Roman Republic and Roman Empire

Specifications:

• Weight: 1.2–1.6 kg (2.6–3.5 lb)
• Length: 64–81 cm (25–32 in)
• Blade length: 60–68 cm (2.0–2.23 ft)
• Width: 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in)
• Blade type: steel of varying degrees of carbon content, pointed, double-edged.
• Hilt type: Wood, bone or ivory.

Additional military sidearm and weapon used to assassinate Julius Caesar

• Shape: leaf-shaped blade
• Size: 7“ to 10” long
• Width: 2“ or more

When thrown to effect would piece armor and collapse, lodged into a opponents shield similar to a one way fish hook making the shield awkward to carry and removal impossible. Do you walk around all day with a spear in your shield or do you spend the next half hour attempting to remove it, while the battle is happening?

The late Roman writer Vegetius, in his work De Re Militari, wrote:

As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches (279 mm) or a foot long, and were called piles. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty.

And later in the same work:

They had likewise two other javelins, the largest of which was composed of a staff five feet and a half long and a triangular head of iron nine inches (229 mm) long. This was formerly called the pilum, but now it is known by the name of spiculum. The soldiers were particularly exercised in the use of this weapon, because when thrown with force and skill it often penetrated the shields of the foot and the cuirasses of the horse.

It may be argued that a short iron shaft has very few confirmations from archeology. Vegetius is writing about a one foot iron shaft because at Vegetius' time the pilum had disappeared and been replaced by similar shorter weapons such as the plumbatae or the above mentioned spiculum.