The simple and ingenious design of the old Roman javelin: how the Romans have designed a remarkably effective weapon

As Mike Tyson said once, with a characteristic simplicity, “everyone has a plan until they are struck in their mouths.” Back at the time of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire, all the enemies of Rome had to have a plan until pila struck through their shields. A kind of javelin with a wooden tree and a sharp iron rod, the pillow came both on long and short. Short pila had the advantage of the distance, but long pila Had the advantage of power, as well as the practical characteristic – whether deliberately or accidentally implemented at the beginning – that their stems would be more easily complained after the impact, which makes them impassable to remove shields which they had penetrated.

With its shield thus made difficult by one or more pilaA fighter in advance would be forced to throw him entirely – assuming that he was still in the state to do so. As you can see with manifested in The video of the Smithsonian chain aboveA pillow Landing in the center of a shield could easily confuse anyone will be held behind.

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The story tells that Roman soldiers have also been trained to launch their pila Where enemy shields overlapped, pinning them together and thus making twice as much from their unnecessary defense. After a victory, pila could be gathered on the battlefield for renovation, an example of quasi-industrial production which is underestimated by Roman military power.

Like all weapons – indeed, like all technology – the pillow had its peak. Polybius' Stories The attribute as an important factor in the Roman victory during the battle of Telamon in 225 BC. But in the third century AD, it was removed, having become an obsolete anti-infantry weapon in the face of equipment and tactics evolving from Germanic tribes and Persian cavalry. Nevertheless, war tools similar to a similar javelin have evolved towards other forms, surviving the Roman Empire itself and persistent even in the age of cannon powder. Now, when very few of us are faced with the threat of tax pila or their successors, we can appreciate the skills necessary to launch them – As Philip Roth described, in his latest novelWith a very different eloquence from that of Tyson – in the field of sport.

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Based in Seoul, Colin MArshall Written and broadcastTS on cities, language and culture. His projects include the substack newsletter Books on cities And the book The stateless city: a walk through Los Angeles from the 21st century. Follow it on the social network formerly known as Twitter in @ColinmArshall.