Roman+Weaponry

Weaponry By Qays L. Rome’s army accomplished expansion of Rome’s empire as well as defending it from enemies. The army would not have been able to do this without their weaponry. The Romans were smart with how their weapons were put together. Their weapons were powerful, complicated, efficient and effective. Rome would take the weapons from other countries or cultures and modify them for its own use. If Rome was in battle with an enemy and saw the enemy using a powerful weapon, Rome would take the weapon for itself and use it to defeat its enemies. The different aspects of Rome's weaponry included what the soldiers wore, their weapons and their armor, siege weapons, naval ships and weaponry, and blockades. A centurion was the backbone of the Roman army. He led a century which had eighty legionaries. He wore a lorica which was body armor, pugio which was a dagger, gladius which was a short sword, bracae which were knee breeches, caligae which were boots, singulum which was a belt, galae which was a helmet, a vitis which was a wooden cane and a sign of rank, and a phalera which was a medallion with a monster’s head to drive away harm. The officers would wear a crest on their helmet to be seen and followed into battle. The legionary wore galae, a woolen tunic, an apron of metal discs, which was a groin guard, lorica, caligae, gladius, pugio, and a pilum. The legionary also had to carry a canteen, a cooking pot, a bag for gear and rations, sandals, a mess kit, and a bag for clothes all on a stick. This equipment weighed altogether 66 pounds. The legionary wore their pugio on the left and their gladius on the right, opposite to the way these weapons were worn by the centurion. The army was split into three groups, the legions, the auxiliaries, and the Praetorian Guard. If you were a Roman citizen, you were a legionary. The army provided weapons, food, lodging, salary, and clothing for the legionaries. If you were not a Roman citizen, you were an auxiliary. The auxiliaries were fighters taken from Rome’s conquered lands. The auxiliary assisted the legionaries or fought using their own native technique. They also had to provide their own weapons and clothing. The Praetorian Guard was a new elite organization founded by Augustus in 27 BCE, to serve as a permanent bodyguard for the emperor. Rome took the Spanish gladius and pugio and modified them for its own use. The gladius was a great stabbing weapon. The cavalry used longer, narrower swords. The pilum is a javelin used by legionaries; it had a barbed iron head with a long thin shank fastened to a wooden shaft. Weights were added to the pilum to improve its penetrative capability. The pilum head penetrated wooden shields and body armor, and it was difficult to pull out. When the pilum hit a shield, the soft metal shank would bend and the heavy wooden shaft would drag on the ground forcing the enemy to drop the shield. If the pilum hit land, the shank bent making it useless to the enemy. This was a great example of a smart weapon. There was a heavy pilum, a light pilum which was as long as the heavy pilum, and a light veles javelin which was shorter than the pilum. The Roman’s also had a composite bow made from wood, horn, and sinew for string. The Roman army had chain mails and scale mails. The chain mail was made of rows of iron rings linked together, alternate lines of punched rings joined by riveted rings, each joined to four others. The scale mail was made of iron, copper or bronze “scales” over-lapping each other, sewn to a fabric/leather backing. Each scale was wired together to its vertical and horizontal neighbor. The army also had a lorica; segmental body armor weighing 22 pounds. The lorica was segmental so it could be light, flexible, and comfortable to wear. Each segment was a metal strip. The metal strips were held together with leather straps. The legionaries wore an apron of metal discs that acted as a groin guard. The metal discs were riveted to thin leather straps that were attached to a belt. The galae was a helmet made of iron and consisted of a bowl fitted with hinged cheek pieces and a rigid neck guard. The helmet was lined on the inside with leather or wool for comfort and extra protection. Rectangular shields started off as an oval scutum, which was then cut off at the top and bottom, and later the sides were squared off. The back was strengthened by “window” structured strips of wood which were glued on. The handle was formed by thickening the middle strip. The hand grip was fronted with an iron/bronze boss. The whole shield was encased with leather; the front was covered in a layer of linen, and then painted. The outside edges were sewn through the wood with rawhide stitches, and then the rim was covered with bronze. The military tribunes wore greaves, bronze shin guards. Caligae were military sandals that were strong and well ventilated with patterns of iron hobnails in the sole designed to take weight and withstand miles of marching.

Part of the Roman tactics was laying siege on a city, which means to surround and attack a city with war machines. The ballista, the catapult, and the onagar were based on war machines used by the Greeks and Macedonians. The ballista was a giant crossbow that was sometimes on wheels. The ballista got its power supply by a large metal bow. The ballista was cranked up, and one would pull the trigger to release the missile. The ballista shot spear-sized arrows with a range of thirteen hundred feet. Another type of ballista got its power supply by springs of twisted ox sinews or human hair on two smaller arms. The catapult was a giant stone-thrower that could be mounted on wheels or constructed on-site on wooden blocks. Onagar was another word for a “wild ass”. The onagar was a smaller catapult and had a range of 300 meters. It had a platform, two support beams, a stopper, and a giant “spoon”. The spoon was fixed in between two thick twisted ropes. When released, the spoon sprang forward, got stopped by the leather padded stopper, and the stone was hurled with great force. The size of these war machines varied from two meters high to vast machines capable of throwing stones weighing over 45 kilos for more than 400 yards. The large ones were used in siege warfare. The smaller, more mobile catapults were used for field artillery because they could be moved easily and shot from the battlefield. There were 60 catapults, both heavy and light, per legion. Only legions used artillery. Another siege weapon was the battering ram which was used to break holes in walls. The wooden pole was bound with rope, covered with rawhides, and there was a metal ram head on the end. The tortoise ram was a “house on wheels”. It was made of heavy timbers covered with thick planking, and a layer of wicker to break the force of stones. It was then covered in fresh seaweed sandwiched in untreated hide as a fire precaution. The battering ram was suspended by ropes inside the tortoise ram. Rome copied the Greeks and Persians for the tortoise ram. Another aspect of the Roman weaponry was the naval weapons and ships. The Romans couldn’t master ramming into ships to sink them. So instead of ramming into the ships, they would come along side the ship, and they boarded it with infantry. The infantry needed mobility on the ship, so they were lightly equipped with a pilum and sword. They also wore a helmet, leather armor, greaves, and a large wooden shield with the emblem of Neptune’s Trident. The Romans based their warships on Greek triremes and quinqueremes and as with their other weapons, modified them and made them better. A quinquereme was a warship with five sets of oarsmen rowing at three levels. The rowers placed their shields on the gunwales for protection. Each ship had something called a corvus. The corvus was a pole in the front of the ship with a bridge attached to it. At the end of the bridge was a metal spike and when it came down on the other ship, the spike would lodge into the deck of the ship and the Romans would board it. The corvus was eight meters long, 1.2 meters wide, there was a knee high fence on either side, and it swiveled around the eight meter high pole. The infantry boarded two at a time, their shields resting on the knee high fence.

Blockades were used to protect the army when it was camping at night and Rome from enemies. The Roman army would make ditches and then they piled up the earth behind the ditches to form a rampart. Sometimes they would line the rampart with “barbed wire”. Each legionary carried stakes that were tied together to make spike balls which were tied together to make barbed wire. Along the top of the rampart, they would set up a palisade with towers every 25 meters. Pointed stakes were embedded in the top of the rampart, projected horizontally, and another row in front of the ditch placed vertically. Sometimes they dug a second ditch and filled it with water. They would also hammer barbed iron spikes into short logs and then bury the logs in front of the ditch. If not for the weaponry, the Roman army wouldn’t have been able to accomplish Rome’s expansion of the empire or defend it. They “borrowed” weapons from their enemy, modified them for their own use, and used them against their enemies. The Romans were clever about how their weapons were put together. The Roman weapons were efficient, effective, and powerful. **__ Works Cited __** "Armamentarium: Beginner's Guide." . . . 1 December, 2008 <>. Blacklock, Dyan. __The Roman Army__. New York: Walker & co. ink. 2004. Connolly, Peter. __The Roman Army__. London: MacDonald Educational Limited, 1975. Macdonald, Fiona. __So You Want To Be A Roman Soldier?__ Brookfield, Connecticut: Millbrook Press, Inc., 1999. Nice, Alex T. "Rome, Ancient." __World Book Student__. 10 Dec. 2008b. Saxtorph, Niels M. __Warriors and Weapons of Early Times__. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972.

__Roman Weapons__ By Harry S. The weapons used by the Romans helped them conquer the Mediterranean which shows that weapons were a big part of the reason the Roman empire grew.

There were three main types of armor the Romans used. They used mail, scale, and segmental armor. Mail was made of iron rings. Scale was made of copper or iron strips. Segmental was made of consisted overlapping curved bands. When soldiers were traveling in war they didn’t only carry weapons they had to carry a 90lb sack which was full of food, water, clothes, weapons, and shovels for about 20 miles a day. The legionaries had to wear metal chest protectors kept together by leather. The other thing they wore were special shoes because they lasted longer and they were really light which made Roman soldiers go faster. When the soldiers were in training they would use heavier weapons to get them stronger and prepared. We still use armor today but it is just more advanced then the Romans.

The Roman shields were so strong it would not let a hole through which was another reason the empire expanded because it would allow more Roman soldiers live in battle. The soldiers either had a square red shield or a circular green shield. The shield would show what unit you were in. A Roman shield would cover a man’s body. A green shield would show that you were a guard or footmen. The red shield would show that you were a legionary which was a professional Roman soldier that had to be a Roman citizen under the age of 45. You would carry your shield in your left hand or right hand depending on who you were. The legionary shield was curved on the side incase something or someone came at you from the side. The shields were usually made of double or triple plywood thickness. Shields are not used by us today but it inspired us to make things similar to a shield like bullet proof windows.

It was a big deal to have a helmet at war and it still is because that makes more soldiers be protected when they are in war. Soldiers wore helmets to protect their face, neck, and head. They used brow guards to protect your face from a sword or arrow. They also wore neck guards on their helmet to protect you from a sword or arrow and they used cheek pieces to protect your cheek from swords or arrows. Helmets were usually made of copper or iron alloy. We also take helmets from the Romans because if we did not use what the Romans discovered then some of our own troops would not have a good chance of living.

Hand weapons were usually some sort of sword or dagger which was one of the main weapons of the Romans. The Roman dagger was adapted from Iberian examples. The daggers were usually carried in a elaborate sheath. In the 2nd century A.D. the Roman dagger grew larger. Most of the daggers that the Romans used were double edged blades. The infantry and cavalry of the Roman army wore their sword on the right but centurions wore their sword on the left. Even though the Romans did not invent the dagger we still use the examples of the smaller dagger that the Romans used

Throwing weapons like spears and javelins were usually used as a distraction in war because the soldiers were more consentrated on the spears then the footmen would come in and attack. The Roman spear was used by cavalry in war. The spear was sometimes used by legionaries too. The Roman Spear had a cone shaped metal shoe, which allowed it to be stuck in the ground without damage. The spear shaft was made of coppiced poles of wood. A javelin was occasionally used with a throwing strap to improve range. The pilum was used as a short range shock weapon. The pilum was designed to pierce through a shield and the person behind it. The pilum had a spear head usually the pilum was a type of javelin but heavier. The javelin was from Oberaden, Germany. What we use that is like the Roman spear is a crossbow which is sometimes used to hunt today and sometimes gave people food.  Works Cited __“Arms and Armor__” World Book Encyclopedia. 2008    Byam, Michele. __Arms and Armor__. New York: DK Publishing, 2004. James, Simon. __Ancient Rome__. New York: DK Publishing, 2004.