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In ancient Roman warfare, the testudo or tortoise formation was a type of shield wall formation commonly used by the Roman legions during battles, particularly when they were the attacking force during sieges.
The second row's purpose was to kill the soldiers of the first line of an enemy shield wall, and thus break the line. [citation needed] The Roman scutum was a large shield designed to fit with others to form a shield wall but not overlap. Roman legions used an extreme type of shield wall called a testudo formation that covered front, sides and ...
The phoulkon (Greek: φοῦλκον), in Latin fulcum, was an infantry formation utilized by the military of the late Roman and Byzantine Empire. It is a formation in which an infantry formation closes ranks and the first two or three lines form a shield wall while those behind them hurl projectiles. It was used in both offensive and defensive ...
Roman military tactics evolved from the type of a small tribal host-seeking local hegemony to massive operations encompassing a world empire. This advance was affected by changing trends in Roman political, social, and economic life, and that of the larger Mediterranean world, but it was also under-girded by a distinctive "Roman way" of war.
It formed a shield wall and a mass of spears pointing towards the enemy. Its compactness provided a thrusting force that had a great impact on the enemy and made frontal assaults against it very difficult. However, it worked only if the soldiers kept the formation tight and had the discipline needed to keep its compactness in the thick of the ...
Hadrian’s Wall in modern-day England marked one of the northern borders of the Roman Empire. But excavations along the wall are bringing to light a hidden history of the army and the Roman ...
At one point, the wall turns through 180 degrees to make an L-shape, which makes it easier to defend against an advancing enemy, Visonà explained. “This is an extremely well planned ...
The scutum from Dura-Europos is the only surviving semi-cylindrical shield from Roman times. It is now in the Yale University Art Gallery (inventory number 1933.715). The shield was found in the excavation campaign of 1928/37 on Tower 19 of Dura-Europos (in present-day Syria). [ 1 ]