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Newsletter of the Association for Roman Military Equipment Studies, relaunched in 2015 and edited by me. Contributions for future issues welcomed.
Proceedings from the 18th RoMEC conference in 2013 in Copenhagen
The paper explores the cultural components of Late Roman military equipment through the examination of specific categories: waist belts, helmets, shields and weaponry. Hellenistic, Roman, Iron Age European, Mesopotamian-Iranian and Asiatic steppe nomad elements all played a part. The conclusion is that the whole history of Roman military equipment involved cultural inclusivity, and specifically that Late Roman equipment development was not some new form of ‘degeneration’ or ‘barbarization’, but a positive acculturation.
Roman military equipment in the 4 th century BC: pilum, scutum and the introduction of manipular tactics Słowa kluczowe: wojskowość starożytnego Rzymu, pilum, scutum, taktyka manewrowa W eapons and tactics of the Roman army in the era of the great wars with Carthage, Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire, as well as in campaigns against the Celts and the tribes of Iberian Peninsula , waged in the years 264–133 BC, are the subject of many publications. Earlier periods in the development of Roman weapons and fighting techniques have been comparatively neglected. The main reason for this is the low reliability of literary sources (Small 2000, p. 230) and almost complete lack of archaeological finds, the context and dating of which can be linked with the army of Rome in the period of the Early Republic (Rawlings 2007, p. 54), as well as the scarcity of iconographic sources. However, this period was crucial for the emergence of a particular method of fighting of the army, which was to conquer the whole Mediterranean world. The aim of this text is to explain and interpret different types of sources and, as a result, to offer a reconstruction of major elements in the evolution of weapons and tactics of heavy infantry, which formed the backbone of the Roman army in the period when these changes occurred, with a special emphasis placed on the widespread use of oblong shield and heavy javelin in the 4 th century BC. Authors of principal publications concerning the subject of development of Roman arms and armour such as Michael C. Bishop and Jonathan Ch.N. Coulston (2006) as well as Michel Feugère (2002) begin their narrative from the First Punic War. There is no consensus among researchers as to the dating of the transformation of Roman weaponry and tactics in this period. Most of them do not agree with any date given by ancient authors, often emphasizing low reliability of written sources (e.g.
Roman military equipment in the 4 th century BC: pilum, scutum and the introduction of manipular tactics Słowa kluczowe: wojskowość starożytnego Rzymu, pilum, scutum, taktyka manewrowa W eapons and tactics of the Roman army in the era of the great wars with Carthage, Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire, as well as in campaigns against the Celts and the tribes of Iberian Peninsula , waged in the years 264–133 BC, are the subject of many publications. Earlier periods in the development of Roman weapons and fighting techniques have been comparatively neglected. The main reason for this is the low reliability of literary sources (Small 2000, p. 230) and almost complete lack of archaeological finds, the context and dating of which can be linked with the army of Rome in the period of the Early Republic (Rawlings 2007, p. 54), as well as the scarcity of iconographic sources. However, this period was crucial for the emergence of a particular method of fighting of the army, which was to conquer the whole Mediterranean world. The aim of this text is to explain and interpret different types of sources and, as a result, to offer a reconstruction of major elements in the evolution of weapons and tactics of heavy infantry, which formed the backbone of the Roman army in the period when these changes occurred, with a special emphasis placed on the widespread use of oblong shield and heavy javelin in the 4 th century BC. Authors of principal publications concerning the subject of development of Roman arms and armour such as Michael C. Bishop and Jonathan Ch.N. Coulston (2006) as well as Michel Feugère (2002) begin their narrative from the First Punic War. There is no consensus among researchers as to the dating of the transformation of Roman weaponry and tactics in this period. Most of them do not agree with any date given by ancient authors, often emphasizing low reliability of written sources (e.g.
Sanader, M., Rendić-Miočević, A., Tončinić D., I. Radman-Livaja (eds.). Proceedings of the XVIIth Roman Military Equipment Conference Zagreb 2010. Weapons and Military Equipment in a Funerary Context. Zagreb, pp. 327-345, 2013
xvii · romec · zagreb 2010 · radovi · proceedings · akten r i m sk a v oj n a opr e m a u p o g r e bno m k on t e k s t u · w e a p on s a nd m il i ta ry e q u ip m e n t in a f u ne r a ry c on t e xt · m il i ta r i a a l s g r a bbe il a g e
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2002
This book provides a summary of Roman weapons, both offensive and defensive, from the Republic to the Late Antiquity, both from a typological, technical and historical point of view. Detailed chapters are devoted to the sources of our knowledge, ancient archery and artillery, swords, helmets, cuirasses as well as the rest of military equipment. Special attention is given to the arms of the cavalry, which always developped a specific attitude, training and equipment through the ages. A chapter on the Late Antiquity and its changes closes the survey.
2018
During its time, the Roman Empire gained a formidable reputation as a result of its discipline and organization. The Roman Empire has made a lasting impact on the world due to its culture, political structure, and military might. The purpose of this project was to examine how the materials and processes used to create the weapons and armour helped to contribute to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This was done by analyzing how the Empire was able to successfully integrate new technologies and strategies from the regions the Empire conquered. The focus of this project is on the Empire's military, including the organization of the army, and the tactics and weapons used. To better understand the technology and innovations during this time the Roman long sword, spatha, was replicated and analyzed.
The popular image of the Roman military is one in which it is cast as an ordered, and in many ways ͚ modern,͛ organization. That is to say that it is often presented as a uniform entity: unmatched in regulation and order, and supplied with identical pieces of equipment. This can be seen quite clearly in the 2000 movie Gladiator. In it the main character, Maximus, is a general in the armies of Marcus Aurelius, fighting against the Germans. One of the opening scenes is of the Roman battle lines: row upon row of legionaries who are armed and equipped identically, like little toy soldiers; they wear the same lorica segmentata armour, carry the same curved scutum, and wield exactly the same weapons. This first scene is designed to show the Roman ͚military machine͛ in all its grandeur. It is a great example of the popular understanding of how uniform the equipment of the Roman army was and how it prosecuted battles. The tendency to see Roman military equipment and the Roman army in general as extremely uniform, however, is not limited to Hollywood. Scholars and students of Roman history are just as likely to portray Roman military equipment in the same uniform, homogeneous manner. This tendency is, in fact, the traditional or received view of Roman military equipment. Graham Webster, who will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter, was one of the fathers of Roman equipment studies. In his 1969 book The Roman Imperial army of the first and second centuries A.D., he wrote ͞[t]he equipment issued to legionaries was remarkably uniform throughout the Empire…͟ (Webster, 1969: 122). In order to account for this uniformity Webster went on to say that there must have been large scale production centres at the heart of the Roman Empire. Peter Connolly, who followed after Webster and will also be discussed in more depth in the next chapter, insisted upon the same equipment homogeny. More recent scholars of Roman equipment, such as Simon James, M.C. Bishop and Jon Coulston, have disagreed with the centralized production models set forth by Webster et al, and have put forth their own models of localized production. As of yet they have not fully explored the repercussions on equipment uniformity that their local production models suggest. The continued use of strict typology by these recent authors points to the fact that they still have not decided to challenge the traditional ideas about equipment uniformity.
The paper aims the study of the equipment of the Roman Army in the first two centuries of the second millennium. It is the peak period of the Roman Empire. Roman Empire attained its greatest expansion under the emperor Trajan. From England to Africa and from Syria to Spain, one in every four people on earth lived and died under Roman law.
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