Pilum
Encyclopedia
The pilum was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about two metres long overall, consisting of an iron
(or, rather, "soft" steel) shank about 7 mm in diameter and 60 cm long with pyramidal head. The shank was joined to the wooded shaft by either a socket or a flat tang.
The total weight of a pilum was between two and five kilograms, with the versions produced during the Empire
being a bit lighter than those dating from the previous Republican era.
The iron shank was the key to the function of the pilum. The weapon had a hard barbed tip but the shank itself was not properly tempered. This deliberate 'un-tempering' would cause the shank to bend after impact, thus rendering the weapon useless to the enemy. More importantly, If the pilum struck the shield of an enemy it would embed itself into the shield's fabric, and this along with the bending of the shank would cause the shield to become unwieldy, forcing the enemy to discard it or waste time trying to pull it out. The former action tended to happen more often than the latter as affected soldiers couldn't risk removing the pilum without disrupting their formation during an advance or losing their lives during a melee.
Pila were divided into two models: heavy and light. Pictorial evidence suggests that some versions of the weapon were weighted by a lead
ball to increase penetrative power but archeological specimens of this design variant are not so far known. Recent experiments have shown pila to have a range of approximately 30 metres (98.4 ft), although the effective range is up to 15 metre.
Legionaries
of the Late Republic
and Early Empire often carried two pila, with one sometimes being lighter than the other. Standard tactics called for Roman soldiers to throw one of them (both if time permitted) at the enemy, just before charging to engage with the gladius
.
The effect of the pila throw was to disrupt the enemy formation by attrition and by causing gaps to appear in its protective shield wall.
Pila could also be used in hand-to-hand combat; one documented instance of this occurred at the Siege of Alesia, and another during Marcus Antonius's Parthian campaign. Additionally, pila could be employed as a thrusting implement and a barrier against cavalry charges. Some pila had small hand-guards, to protect the wielder if he intended to use it as a melee weapon, but it does not appear that this was common.
writer Vegetius
, in his work De Re Militari
, wrote:
And later in the same work:
It may be argued that a short iron shaft has very few confirmations from archeology. Vegetius
is writing about a one foot iron shaft because at Vegetius' time the pilum had disappeared and been replaced by similar shorter weapons such as the plumbatae or the above mentioned spiculum.
Thanks in part to experimental archaeology
, it is generally believed that the pilum's design evolved to be armour-piercing: the pyramidal head would punch a small hole through an enemy shield
allowing the thin shank to pass through and penetrate a distance sufficient to hit the man behind it. The thick wooden shaft provided the weight behind the punch.
In one description, one of the two iron nails that held the iron shaft in place was replaced with a weak wooden pin that would break on impact causing the shaft to twist sideways. Gaius Marius
is sometimes given credit for this modification. It has been argued that later pila were constructed so that the iron shank would bend on impact. Having penetrated a shield through a small hole and its shank having bent, such a pilum would now be more difficult to remove, and, of course, impossible to throw back.
Further complications and injury could ensue if the understandably-reluctant enemy did not discard his precious shield quickly enough, as there would be a great press from the men behind him.
Opinion among archaeologists once held that the main function of the shank was to disable both shields and the pilum itself by bending, but it is now thought that the pilum was a form of "personal artillery" designed simply to provide a massive counter-shock against any charging foe, and, as necessary, turn any legionary into a spearman.
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
(or, rather, "soft" steel) shank about 7 mm in diameter and 60 cm long with pyramidal head. The shank was joined to the wooded shaft by either a socket or a flat tang.
The total weight of a pilum was between two and five kilograms, with the versions produced during the Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
being a bit lighter than those dating from the previous Republican era.
The iron shank was the key to the function of the pilum. The weapon had a hard barbed tip but the shank itself was not properly tempered. This deliberate 'un-tempering' would cause the shank to bend after impact, thus rendering the weapon useless to the enemy. More importantly, If the pilum struck the shield of an enemy it would embed itself into the shield's fabric, and this along with the bending of the shank would cause the shield to become unwieldy, forcing the enemy to discard it or waste time trying to pull it out. The former action tended to happen more often than the latter as affected soldiers couldn't risk removing the pilum without disrupting their formation during an advance or losing their lives during a melee.
Pila were divided into two models: heavy and light. Pictorial evidence suggests that some versions of the weapon were weighted by a lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
ball to increase penetrative power but archeological specimens of this design variant are not so far known. Recent experiments have shown pila to have a range of approximately 30 metres (98.4 ft), although the effective range is up to 15 metre.
Legionaries
Legionary
The Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...
of the Late Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
and Early Empire often carried two pila, with one sometimes being lighter than the other. Standard tactics called for Roman soldiers to throw one of them (both if time permitted) at the enemy, just before charging to engage with the gladius
Gladius
Gladius was the Latin word for sword, and is used to represent the primary sword of Ancient Roman soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those used by the Greeks. From the 3rd century BC, the Romans adopted swords similar to those used by the Celtiberians and others during the early...
.
The effect of the pila throw was to disrupt the enemy formation by attrition and by causing gaps to appear in its protective shield wall.
Pila could also be used in hand-to-hand combat; one documented instance of this occurred at the Siege of Alesia, and another during Marcus Antonius's Parthian campaign. Additionally, pila could be employed as a thrusting implement and a barrier against cavalry charges. Some pila had small hand-guards, to protect the wielder if he intended to use it as a melee weapon, but it does not appear that this was common.
Vegetius' commentary
The late RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
writer Vegetius
Vegetius
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, commonly referred to simply as Vegetius, was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what he tells us in his two surviving works: Epitoma rei militaris , and the lesser-known Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae, a guide to...
, in his work De Re Militari
De Re Militari
De Re Militari , also Epitoma Rei Militaris, is a treatise by the late Latin writer Vegetius about Roman warfare and military principles as a presentation of methods and practices in use during the height of Rome's power, and responsible for that power...
, wrote:
- As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches (279 mm) or a foot long, and were called piles. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty.
And later in the same work:
- They had likewise two other javelins, the largest of which was composed of a staff five feet and a half long and a triangular head of iron nine inches (229 mm) long. This was formerly called the pilum, but now it is known by the name of spiculum. The soldiers were particularly exercised in the use of this weapon, because when thrown with force and skill it often penetrated the shields of the foot and the cuirasses of the horse.
It may be argued that a short iron shaft has very few confirmations from archeology. Vegetius
Vegetius
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, commonly referred to simply as Vegetius, was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what he tells us in his two surviving works: Epitoma rei militaris , and the lesser-known Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae, a guide to...
is writing about a one foot iron shaft because at Vegetius' time the pilum had disappeared and been replaced by similar shorter weapons such as the plumbatae or the above mentioned spiculum.
Results of experimental archaeology
Experimental archaeology
Experimental archaeology employs a number of different methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches in order to generate and test hypotheses, based upon archaeological source material, like ancient structures or artifacts. It should not be confused with primitive technology which is not concerned...
, it is generally believed that the pilum's design evolved to be armour-piercing: the pyramidal head would punch a small hole through an enemy shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
allowing the thin shank to pass through and penetrate a distance sufficient to hit the man behind it. The thick wooden shaft provided the weight behind the punch.
In one description, one of the two iron nails that held the iron shaft in place was replaced with a weak wooden pin that would break on impact causing the shaft to twist sideways. Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
is sometimes given credit for this modification. It has been argued that later pila were constructed so that the iron shank would bend on impact. Having penetrated a shield through a small hole and its shank having bent, such a pilum would now be more difficult to remove, and, of course, impossible to throw back.
Further complications and injury could ensue if the understandably-reluctant enemy did not discard his precious shield quickly enough, as there would be a great press from the men behind him.
Opinion among archaeologists once held that the main function of the shank was to disable both shields and the pilum itself by bending, but it is now thought that the pilum was a form of "personal artillery" designed simply to provide a massive counter-shock against any charging foe, and, as necessary, turn any legionary into a spearman.
See also
- Pole weaponPole weaponA pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range. Spears, glaives, poleaxes, halberds, and bardiches are all varieties of polearms...
- JavelinJavelinA Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...
- VerutumVerutumThe verutum, or plural veruta was a short javelin used in the Roman army. This javelin was used by the velites for skirmishing unlike the heavier pilum used by the hastati and principes for softening the enemy before advancing into close combat. The verutum's shaft was about 1.1 meters long, much...
- LanceaLanceaThe lancea was the Roman auxiliaries' short javelin. According to the OED, the word originally came from the Iberian Language , also cf longche, the Greek term for lance. On Spike TV's show Deadliest Warrior, the lancea was the Celt's mid-range weapon....
- SpiculumSpiculumA spiculum is a late Roman spear that replaced the pilum at around AD 250 as the infantryman's main throwing javelin. Scholars suppose that it could have resulted from the gradual combination of the pilum and two German spears, the angon and the bebra. As more and more Germans joined the Roman army...
- Roman military personal equipment
- SpearSpearA spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
- ProjectileProjectileA projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
- LanceLanceA Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
- HastaHasta (spear)Hasta is a Latin word meaning spear. Hastae were carried by early Roman Legionaries, in particular they were carried by and gave their name to those Roman soldiers known as Hastati...
External links
- The Pilum - The Roman Spear, Caerleon's Roman Legion
- Lance / Spear / Pilum / Catapult points, www.romanlegions.info
- Archaeological discovery of a pilum, Ecomuseum de Cap de Cavalleria.