by Michael Fassbender

Created on: July 27, 2009

Ingenuity is not one of the first words that come to mind when considering the Romans. Stolid and practical, they were far more adept at applying and perfecting the lessons of their own experience and those taken from other civilizations. Their experience was extensive, however, and the civilizations from which they drew further knowledge nearly encompassed the known world. Military accomplishment was highly prized by the Romans, and much effort was expended to perfect their martial skills. These facts, aided by occasional visionaries like Gaius Marius and Julius Caesar, helped to make the Roman system the most flexible, resilient and powerful military establishment in the world from the death of Hannibal to the age of Attila.

The reasons for this military greatness range from the soundness of long-term strategic planning to the endurance of the individual legionary. The core of Roman strength lay in its legions, however, and it is here that Roman ingenuity can most readily be grasped.

Hand-to-hand combat

Originally, the Romans emulated the phalanx system of the Hellenistic world. It was a fairly static system based on the use of three weapons: the spear, the shield, and the sword. The spear was the primary weapon of the phalangite, but the shield was more than just a tool of personal defense. As the phalanx fought in close order, it served to aid in the protection of one's neighbor to the left, and in the front line, it became a true weapon when the opposing forces closed in to a crushing brawl. The sword was mainly a weapon of last resort.

The Roman legion used variants of the same weapons, but radically changed their priority. The primary weapon of the legionary was his short sword, the gladius, used mainly in rapid stabbing motions designed to get around shields. The shield, or scutum, was large enough for active personal defense, but could also be used as a secondary form of attack. His tertiary weapon was the pilum, a heavy javelin that took the place of the phalangite spear.

Generally, the Romans let fly their pila when the opponent was nearing direct contact, freeing the legionary's hand to wield his gladius. Ideally, the hail of javelins might kill or injure numerous enemies in a given formation, but the slow speed of the javelin and the general availability of shields reduced this to a chance event. The real value of the pilum was not in bypassing the shield, but in rendering it useless for the ensuing melee. Unlike most spears, the pilum

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