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Roman Infantry Tactics
Roman infantry tactics are the theoretical and historical deployment, formation, and manoeuvres of the Roman infantry from the start of the Roman Republic to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The original Roman army was made up of ''hoplite, hoplites'', whose main strategy was forming into a ''phalanx''. By the early third century BCE, the Roman army would switch to the Maniple (military unit), maniple system, which would divide the Roman army into three units, ''hastati'', ''principes'', and ''triarii''. Later, in 107BCE, Gaius Marius, Marius would institute the so-called Marian reforms, creating the Roman legions. This system would evolve into the Late Roman army, Late Roman Army, which utilized the ''comitatenses'' and ''limitanei'' units to defend the Roman Empire, Empire. Roman legionaries had armour, a ''gladius'', a shield, two ''Pilum, pila'', and Rationing, food rations. They carried around tools such as a ''dolabra'', a wooden Stave (wood), stave, and a shallow wicke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire following the War of Actium. During this period, Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean world. Roman society at the time was primarily a cultural mix of Latins (Italic tribe), Latin and Etruscan civilization, Etruscan societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan, and Greek cultural elements, which is especially visible in the Ancient Roman religion and List of Roman deities, its pantheon. Its political organisation developed at around the same time as direct democracy in Ancient Greece, with collective and annual magistracies, overseen by Roman Senate, a senate. There were annual elections, but the republican system was an elective olig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilum
The ''pilum'' (; : ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by either a socket or a flat tang. History The ''pilum ''may have originated from an Italic tribe known as the Samnites. It also may have been influenced by Celtiberian and Etruscan weapons. The ''pilum'' may have derived from a Celtiberian weapon known as the'' falarica''. Archaeological excavations have disclosed ''pila'' in tombs at the Etruscan city of Tarquinia. The oldest finds of pila are from the Etruscan settlements of Vulci and Talamone. The first identified written reference to the ''pilum'' comes from ''The Histories'' of Polybius. According to Polybius, more heavily armed Roman military soldiers used a spear called the ''hyssoí''. This may have been the ''pilum''. The precursor to the ''pilum'' was the '' hasta''. It is u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ''imperium'', could be exercised constitutionally only by a consul. Only two consuls served at a time, each elected to a one-year term. They could not normally serve two terms in a row; if a military campaign was in progress at the end of a consul's term, the consul in command might have his command Prorogatio, prorogued, allowing him to continue in command. This custom allowed for continuity of command despite the high turnover of consuls. In the Roman Empire, proconsul was a title held by a civil governor and did not imply military command. In modern times, various officials with notable delegated authority have been referred to as proconsuls. Studies of leadership typically divide leaders into policymakers and subordinate a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Consul
The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspiredafter that of the Roman censor, censor, which was reserved for former consuls. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated each month holding ''fasces'' (taking turns leading) when both were in Rome. A consul's ''imperium'' (military power) extended over Rome and all its Roman provinces, provinces. Having two consuls created a check on the power of any one individual, in accordance with the republican belief that the powers of the former King of Rome, kings of Rome should be spread out into multiple offices. To that end, each consul could veto the actions of the other consul. After the establishment of the Roman Empire, Empire (27 BC), the consuls became mere symboli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field Army
A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and Naval fleet, fleets in navy, navies. A field army is composed of 80,000 to 300,000 soldiers. History Specific field armies are usually named or numbered to distinguish them from "army" in the sense of an entire national defence force or land force. In English language, English, the typical orthography, orthographic style for writing out the names field armies is Numeral (linguistics), word numbers, such as "First Army"; whereas corps are usually distinguished by Roman numerals (e.g. I Corps) and subordinate formations with ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal numbers (e.g. 1st Division). A field army may be given a geographical name in addition to or as an alternative to a numerical name, such as the British Army of the Rhine, Army of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centuria
''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of the imperial era the standard size of a centuria was 100 men. By the time of the Roman Empire, ordo became a synonym of centuria (in 4 BC it was used for a maniple). Ten contuberniums formed a century, composed of 80 legionaries. Commanding this unit was the '' centurion'', a veteran expert in combat analogous to an non-commissioned officer. His role was not only that of a leader, but also that of an instructor and responsible for discipline within his unit. The centurion was assisted by the ''optio'', his second-in-command and other officers such as the ''tesserarius'', in charge of security, the ''signifer'', who carried the banner, and the ''cornicen'', who transmitted orders by trumpet. Roman use Political In the political context ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohort (Roman)
A cohort (from the Latin ''cohors'', : ''cohortes''; see wikt:cohors for full inflection table) was a standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion. Although the standard size changed with time and situation, it was generally composed of 480 soldiers. A cohort is considered to be the equivalent of a modern military battalion. The cohort was the most important tactical unit in the Roman army. They could operate independently and offered flexibility and maneuverability, allowing the legions to quickly adapt to different combat situations. The cohort replaced the maniple. From the late second century BC and until the middle of the third century AD, ten cohorts (about 5,000 men total) made up a legion. Cohorts were named "first cohort", "second cohort", etc. The first cohort consisted of experienced legionaries, while the legionaries in the tenth cohort were less experienced. Legionary cohort A legionary cohort of the early empire consisted of six '' centuriae'', or centurie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scorpio (weapon)
The ''scorpio'' or scorpion was a type of Roman torsion siege engine and field artillery piece. It was described in detail by the early-imperial Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius in the 1st century BC and by the 4th century AD officer and historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History' Design Two versions are known: a horizontal two-armed variety like a ballista and a one-armed, vertical version otherwise referred to as an ''onager''. The scorpion was made of a ground frame made of two beams joined together with crossbeams. Spring holes were drilled into the sides of the beams to allow for ropes to be placed in, thus allowing them to serve as sinew-springs. This gave the weapon more power. An arm made of wood known as the ''stilus'', with iron hooks at the end, was used to hold the stone or bolt which was to be fired. The fourth century army officer and historian Ammianus Marcellinus witnessed the use of ''scorpiones'' during several engagements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballistae
The ballista (Latin, from Ancient Greek, Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an Classical antiquity, ancient missile weapon that launched either Crossbow_bolt, bolts or stones at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a tension prod (the bow part of a modern crossbow). The springs consisted of several loops of twisted Hank (textile), skeins. Early versions projected heavy dart (missile), darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller precision weapon, the ''Scorpio (weapon), scorpio'', and possibly the ''polybolos''. Greek weapon The early ballistae in Ancient Greece were developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes. The gastraphetes ('belly-bow') was a handheld crossbow. It had a composite p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Onager (weapon)
The onager (, ; ) was a Roman torsion-powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. The onager was first mentioned in 353 AD by Ammianus Marcellinus, who described onagers as the same as a scorpion. The onager is often confused with the later mangonel, a "traction trebuchet" that replaced torsion powered siege engines in the 6th century AD. Etymology According to two authors of the later Roman Empire who wrote on military affairs, the onager's name, meaning wild ass, derived from the kicking action of the machine that threw stones into the air. This action resembled the kicking action of the hooves of the wild ass, the Syrian wild ass, a subspecies of onager, which was native to the eastern part of the empire. In Latin this species was known as ''onagrum''. Design The onager consisted of a large frame placed horizontally on the ground with a vertical frame of solid timber rigidly fixed to its fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castra
''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified military base.. Included is a discussion about the typologies of Roman fortifications. In English language, English usage, ''castrum'' commonly translates to "Roman fort", "Roman camp" and "Roman fortress". Scholastic convention tends to translate ''castrum'' as "fort", "camp", "marching camp" or "fortress". Romans used the term ''castrum'' for different sizes of camps – including large Roman legion, legionary fortresses, smaller forts for Cohort (military unit), cohorts or for auxiliary forces, military camp, temporary encampments, and "marching" forts. The diminutive form ''castellum'' was used for fortlets, typically occupied by a detachment of a cohort or a ''centuria''. Etymology ''Castrum'' appears in Oscan language, Oscan and Umbrian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
