Jun 4, 2018 · A pilum hitting a shield or armor and not penetrating could cause the point to deform or a bend in the shank immediately after the point. Overall, the pilum was designed and optimized for penetrating flesh (man and beast) and shields, to a lesser extent armor.

Dec 3, 2020 · The conventional picture of the pilum is that every legionary carried two (one heavier and one lighter) and would be launched as a massed volley at the century/cohort level. There were designed to get stuck in shields and bend on impact so as to be hard to remove and throw back. This would break...

Mar 27, 2017 · The pilum was very much designed to KILL and to disrupt an enemy attack. It was meant to be thrown at short range, just before both armies clashed, in order to give the enemy no time to recover from that double rain of death. It was not meant to eliminate shields, it was designed to *penetrate* shields and still get the man behind.

Dec 15, 2016 · The Roman pilum was never meant for long range, it was specifically meant to be a *heavy* javelin, thrown point-blank into an enemy formation to disrupt it immediately before a charge. For longer-range missiles, the Romans either used light infantry with lighter javelins, or slings and bows.

Feb 2, 2016 · 1) did the Romans take the second pilum in battle? One hand of a legionary was holding a shield, the second a pilum, and where was the second pilum? 2) how did the Romans actually throw their pilums? All men at once? Such "fire" should have been inaccurate. Did their throw the pilums, by "fire by rank".

Jan 7, 2014 · The Roman ''pilum'' was a throwing spear, used to disable the enemy's shields by bending at the neck of the iron tip so that the spear could not be easily pulled out. The '''hasta'' was a thrusting spear used to knock horsemen off their horses in a cavalry charge.

From my reading, I recall that Pilums were not made of steel, but Iron. The tip was harder because it was made by hammering the end of the metal. Legionaries carried a tool to bend the shafts back with the baggage. It was an iron shaft with a …

Jan 16, 2013 · Digital front-end: Pilium Elektra Dac, Pachanko Constellation Reference, SPEC RMP-UB1 Diretta Bridge

Nov 1, 2013 · This is a topic regarding the Phalanx vs missle fire...both the Greek and Macedoian systems. The Greek system has a massive thick shield, the Aspis and...

Mar 5, 2025 · Cisalpine Gauls probably made most people in central Italy adopt the Pilum, Scutum, and reserve lines which the Romans of course made use with. Tiberius could have tried to help his cavalry by using the Triarii, though that would be very risky and it probably would only have delayed the inevitable.