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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.
In 52 BC, during the siege of Avaricum in the war against the Gauls, Julius Caesar mentions the scorpio in use as an anti-personnel weapon against the Gallic town's defenders. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The late third or early fifth century Roman author Vegetius described weapons like the scorpion mounted on carts for campaign use.
Third-century Roman soldiers battling barbarian troops on the Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250–260) Rome was established as a nation by making aggressive use of its high military potential. From very early on in its history, it would raise two armies annually to campaign abroad. The Roman military was far from being solely a defense force.
When invading enemy territories, the Roman army would often construct roads as it went, to allow swift reinforcement and resupply, or for easy retreat if necessary. Roman road-making skills were such that some survive. Michael Grant credits the Roman building of the Via Appia with winning them the Second Samnite War. [4]
Their sole obligation was to supply to the Roman army, on demand, a number of fully equipped troops up to a specified maximum each year. Evidence from Roman army camps near Numantia in Spain suggests that a much larger tactical unit, the cohort (480 men, equivalent to 4 maniples) already existed, alongside maniples, in the period 153–133 BC ...
Every century (group of 60-100 men) in the Roman army had a ballista by the 1st century AD. [6] It was the command of the chief of the ballistae, under whom were the artillery experts, or doctores ballistarum and finally, the artillerymen, or ballistarii. [7] Ballistae were heavy missile weapons, hurling large rocks great distances to damage ...
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.
Treadgold argues that John Lydus' figure of 389,704 soldiers represents the army's strength in 285, [89] while Zosimus' figures totalling 581,000 soldiers account for the army in 312. [90] Treadgold estimates that the army's size was roughly constant during the period 235-285, followed by a rapid increase of over 50% between 285-305, and again ...