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Caligae, heavy-soled military shoes or sandals which were worn by Roman legionary soldiers and auxiliaries throughout the history of the Roman Republic and Empire. The focale, a scarf worn by the Roman legionary to protect the neck from chafing caused by constant contact with the soldier's armor
Re-enactor with Pompeii-type gladius The Mainz Gladius on display at the British Museum, London. Gladius is the general Latin word for 'sword'. In the Roman Republic, the term gladius Hispaniensis (Spanish sword) referred (and still refers) specifically to the short sword, 60 cm (24 inches) long, used by Roman legionaries from the 3rd century BC.
Augustan period statue of a Gaulish soldier wearing a Roman lorica hamata. Modern historians believe that mail armor was invented by the Celts. [3] [4] With the idea for this form of mail possibly coming to Rome during conflicts with the Celts in the 3rd century BC, [5] [2] lorica hamata was used by both legionary and auxilia troops. [2]
During the Dacian Wars Trajan had to re-equip his soldiers wearing lorica segmentata with other forms of armor such as the lorica hamata and lorica squamata. [5] It is not known precisely when the Romans adopted the type of armor, [ 4 ] but it remained in use for about eight centuries, [ 4 ] most prominently in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
The latter is exemplified by the siege of the legionary camp at Castra Vetera during the revolt of the Batavi in 69–70 AD. 5,000 legionaries succeeded in holding out for several months against vastly superior numbers of rebel Batavi and their allies under the renegade auxiliary officer Civilis, despite the latter disposing of c. 8,000 Roman ...
However, this name was not given to the armor by the Romans. Instead, it was given by scholars in the 16th century. [1] Despite the lack of knowledge on the Roman name for the armor, scholars can make educated guesses on the Roman name. It is obvious the name had the word lorica in it. [1] However, the following part of the name is unknown. [1]
The Roman legionary fought first and foremost with his contubernium, the basic eight man unit of the Roman army. [30] The men of the same contubernium fought, slept, ate, and trained together. This strong sense of camaraderie gave Roman legionaries a sense of pride and kept them fighting on the battlefield.
[1] At the highest level of structure, the forces were split into the Roman army and the Roman navy, although these two branches were less distinct than in many modern national defense forces. Within the top levels of both army and navy, structural changes occurred as a result of both positive military reform and organic structural evolution.