Roman Pilum - ScholaGladiatoria Mini Documentary

[@thefreshestslice4105]

I'm proud of you, Matt. You said it was going to be short and it was less than 45 minutes.

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

You thought he was talking about duration?

[@2008davidkang]

Is this a low key predecessor to Matt's first book?

[@sugarnads]

Next video: 44:59

[@mtgAzim]

But I like the longer videos. The longer the better! ^_^

[@ianbenicio1035]

Sorry to be offtopic but does any of you know of a tool to get back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my account password. I love any assistance you can give me.

[@neilwilson5785]

This is really good, and a welcome diversification of the channel. I'm in!

[@scholagladiatoria]

Many thanks.

[@BillyAbshier]

I really enjoyed this more "academic" format. It's nice for the occasional in-depth review, especially your artwork slides. Two thumbs up.

[@Sabortooftigar]

10/10 will watch again

[@londiniumarmoury7037]

Love the new documentary format, hope to see more. 10/10

[@scholagladiatoria]

Good to hear, thanks!

[@londiniumarmoury7037]

@@scholagladiatoria You're welcome.

[@wlewisiii]

Agreed!

[@KnightofGascogne]

Same. Excellent video that probably required a lot of research and editing, so let's thank Matt for the hard work. 100% worth it (as a viewer), very informative and clear. That's the type of content I came for and will gladly share.

[@siegnant]

I second that statement (OP). This format is great.

[@DrTarrandProfessorFether]

As the Leader of LEGIO II AVG COH V, based in Northern California, we used to throw Pilum, but after a few throws, they bend. The will go through a 1/4 inch plywood and impale the holder if through a wood part. It is tricky get them out of shields. They can be hammered straight but weakens the iron shaft. What we let the public throw is 1.5 to 2 meter tall Lancea, 18 mm thick hard wood and tip iron about 30 cm long. They will stick into a shield but not penetrate. They will go into the ground about 8 inches with a good 25 meter throw.. or only 5 inches for a short throw of 8 meters. These will right through a foot or a stomach easily. Like throwing a steak knife with a 6 foot wood shaft. We have Hasta, thrusting spears… thick wood, 2.5 to 3 meters long. What a guard would use. Rarely throw them for they are very heavy. We had a lead ball Pilum… boy, hard to throw over 10 meters….

[@ibalrog]

I'm really enjoying this calmer, more measured delivery with fewer parentheticals and less repetition of alternative terminology. Direct, focused, easy to follow. It's refreshing.

[@joanignasi91]

I was surprised by how sturdy real pila really are, I always thought they were just very thin javelins only ment to be thrown

[@2008davidkang]

Can really penetrate deeply if it snapped Ouch

[@Intranetusa]

There is a lot of evidence that the Romans used the pila in melee combat as thrusting spears (so they had to be sturdy): 1) Caear's writings about Alesia said he had his troops first use pilums as spears/pikes before switching to swords. "omissis pilis gladiis rem gerunt" (with their javelins set down they pressed the attack with their swords). -Gallic Wars Book VII 2) Plutarch describes Caesar's men at Pharsalus jabbing upwards at the faces of Pompey's cavalry with their javelins. "And this was what actually came to pass; for they could not endure the upward thrust of the javelins..." -"The Life of Julius Caesar" by Plutarch 3) Plutarch in Life of Antony 45 talks about Mark Antony's legions using their pila to thrust at Parthians in melee. In this incidence, pilas would definitely be of primary importance and much more useful in melee than their short swords, 4) We have reliefs on Roman artwork showing Romans using pila in melee combat stabbing at Dacian infantry. See Tropaeum Traiani 5) Arrian in Array against the Alans (2nd century AD) talks about legionary heavy infantry equipped with an iron shank weapon used to thrust at horses: "And the front four ranks of the formation must be of spearmen, whose spearpoints end in thin iron shanks. And the foremost of them should hold them at the ready, in order that when the enemies near them, they can thrust the ironpoints of the spears at the breast of the horses in particular. Those standing in second, third an fourth rank of the formation must hold their spears ready for thrusting if possible, wounding the horses and killing the horsemen and put the rider out of action with the spear stuck in their heavy body armour and the iron point bent because of the softness." -Array against Alans by Arrian

[@liriobolaffio3255]

The plural of "pilum" is "pila".

[@vanivanov9571]

Err... as point out in the video, it depends on the pilum.

[@nikolaushauser3785]

That’s huge ! Love it ! More of this ! Such condensed documentaries are rare and the well thought out argumentation is well appreciated!

[@andrewmartin3671]

I love it. How long does this type of video take to make compared to "talk to camera" type videos?

[@scholagladiatoria]

Thanks. Unfortunately most of a day, as I had to research it all, check the facts and then write a kind of script. Not nearly as easy as talking at a camera about something I am more familiar with for 10 minutes!

[@andrewmartin3671]

Thanks! Good stuff though, this seems to have a real timeless, formal academic quality to it.

[@johnathonhamilton232]

scholagladiatoria thank you for putting in the extra work. The visuals are very engaging and make the whole learning process a lot more enjoyable

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

The lancia was light, fast but usually rusted or broke down on the way to the battlefield.

[@beardedbjorn5520]

Always overheating in the heat of battle too.

[@spawniscariot9756]

Nearly sucked me in!

[@nirfz]

Only the privately owned ones ;-) The speed of the professionally used good ones was so incredible that for 10 times they became the fastest weapon of all. And an Italian and a Finn each got named champion of the world twice while using a certain variant.

[@judiandpauldiakos1687]

L

[@jakisthe]

Hey Matt, a longtime sub and watcher, but I still wanted to write and thank you for taking this step with your work product. I know it can be easier to talk to a camera and just show us examples - and those are great - but I think the illustrations and more formal scripting really made for a tremendously compelling essay. It's been great watching this channel expand, and I'm excited to watch as you continue to grow. Cheers!

[@beardedbjorn5520]

Great video Matt. Loved it and I wholeheartedly agree. The long thinner shaft with the bodkin like point, seems indicative of getting as much penetration as possible with the smallest amount of resistance as possible. The bending of the shaft is most likely a symptom rather than a feature. People seem to have a great affliction with observing rare evidence and concocting their own fantastical reasons behind it.

[@vanivanov9571]

Rare? No, lots of pila are bent, just out of the ones we found. We can only guess how common it was back in the day, but founding a bunch of bent ones, sometimes extremely bent like 45 degrees, makes it pretty plain that a long, thin, soft-metal (iron) shank at the end of a heavy javelin is... well, that's just physics, it would be weird if it didn't bend. You can call it a symptom or intent, but obviously no one minded this happened and didn't design for it to stop happening.

[@lamwen03]

Outstanding format and presentation.

[@IONATVS]

Only tangentially related to the discussion, but in case anyone was wondering: the Romans did also have a dedicated NON-throwing spear, the hasta, though it was rarely equipped to the legions after the Marian reforms of the late republic created the highly-uniform cohort-centric professional armies used in the Social Wars and through the Imperial period, and only by the Triarii (elite third line of battle generally held in reserve for if the other two were having trouble) in the mid-Republican “manipular” legions that preceded them. In the early Republic and throughout the Kingdom of Rome, however, the Romans were basically copying the Greek phalanx, so everybody had hastae.

[@AriasRequiem]

Good addition to the conversation. Personally I like the idea that I read, that the Triarii had spears in the back rank to present a wall of points to deter any units from routing, since they would have to run into a wall of their own spears. Probably not real, but the idea tickles some absurdist part of my brain.

[@yetanother9127]

One place they did see major use was with cavalry, who employed their _hastae_ as lances.

[@AriasRequiem]

@@yetanother9127 Makes sense, but I'm surprised they didn't have a dedicated cavalry spear. I would think cavalry would want a longer spear, in the nine to ten foot range.

[@yetanother9127]

Longer spears more useful for horsemen did exist; they just weren't differentiated from infantry spears, both being referred to as _hastae._

[@IONATVS]

AriasRequiem I think the tacit threat of “don’t you dare route and besmirch the Legion’s honor, or we’ll skewer you harder than the enemy will” was definitely one part of it-especially since the legions in that period were often a mix of career veteran soldiers and green ad-hoc conscripts, with the least experienced at the front. And in the earliest days of the maniple strategy, all the most elite/veteran fighters would have been far more experienced with phallanx combat than maniple combat, so it probably eased the transition significantly. I would argue that the main reason that the triarii were equipped with hastae, however, was that a phallanx of spears and shields is a just plain broken, easily exploitable tactic, with its only real weaknesses being time and location to set up properly and the need for more mobile units to protect their flanks. The maniple addresses those weaknesses and as such is a more versitile tactic, but by the time the principes (“vanguard”, least experienced first line) and hastati (literally “spearmen” even though they no longer used spears at this point, the veteran-but-still-young second line) were doing badly enough that they needed to send in the Triarii to save the day, they had had plenty of time to set up and the retreating forward ranks streaming past their flanks provided plenty of buffer in that regard.

[@xerkules2851]

Great format. The organisation and clarity allowed your insight to come through very well. I'd love to see more videos like this in the future.

[@b1laxson]

Liked how you connected to various references. Clears up also the wood peg thing as a variation.

[@TheCaniblcat]

Very educational and an excellent companion video to your previous one. Thank you and thanks to everyone who answered my question on that previous video. :)

[@KirstenBayes]

By the 4th century, the Roman infantry, the pedes, switched to either spears (then termed lancea) or 2-3 light javelins (veruta), paired with a scutum shield and spatha sword. So that was that for the pilum. Really appreciated this documentary.

[@edwardgrylls01]

Loved this Matt. Its fascinating to hear about weapons in such amazing detail. You can keep talking as long as you like as far as im concerned . The high level of argument and close analysis of sources is wonderful. I wish I had a tutor like you at University.

[@JonathanGarneau]

love this mini documentary format! Chock-full of concise information. I hope you do more of them

[@ScythianGryphon]

This is a type of video I really appreciate on KZbin .

[@BIGPAPADILF]

Wow. I have heard a lot of breakdowns of the pilum and this one stands out. Way to make it happen!

[@Genethagenius]

How is this video getting any dislikes at all? This is an incredibly well researched, edited, and most importantly, ENTERTAINING video about the Roman Pilum! One of the best I’ve seen yet!

[@jinxhead4182]

Very interesting and yet comprehensive. Good analysis. I need a pilum...

[@tsmspace]

I really like the planned and organized presentation. This is an excellent presentation to use as the very argument itself.

[@Kaylielffxi]

Very nice mini-documentary! Hope to see more in the future!

[@stevepapp2453]

Another great video! Thank you!

[@richardbennett8522]

A good video Matt.Some years ago Frederick Forsyth did a TV series called "Soldiers" and commented on the Roman pilum bending in opponents shields although the primary purpose was to take the soldier behind the shield.

[@richardcharay7788]

Interesting, thanks!

[@nobbytang]

The massed roman pilum double throw killed all momentum in the wild gallic, Briton and germanic charge... Brilliant

[@Atrahasis7]

Love this format.

[@joshmapes187]

Sir, this is an excellent little documentary. Thank you for creating it, I’m enjoying it quite a bit!!!

[@hatuletoh]

"The pilum's purpose was penetration, primarily." I was thoroughly enjoying this vid before, but that elevated it to the sublime.

[@2008davidkang]

Exalted to the ultimate penetration elation.

[@rrobotman]

Ah the context of penetration.........

[@davidtuttle7556]

So the pilum throw was an ancient elongated pommel strike?

[@ArkadiBolschek]

10:19

[@jellekastelein7316]

I for one thoroughly enjoy a good shaft-deep penetration after tossing my pilum.

[@Dr_Hoops_McCann]

This is really top notch! I could watch a whole hour of this!

[@ramibairi5562]

An excellent presentation ! Great job Matt :)

[@MaciejNaumienko]

fantastic, quality material

[@jeffharmed1616]

Thanks that study. I would suggest that in the early stages of the battle, the second row of soldiers could assist the first row with the pilum.

[@willmendoza8498]

Love the academic/documentary format on this

[@vyderka]

I enjoyed the new format, more lecture like with copious illustration, but still love your more traditional one with superdry clothes and shiny head in front of the camera :)

[@deektedrgg]

Mid-view thought... imagine getting a pilum in your shield, and then the Romans clash in your line. No time to get the pilum out, the lines are beginning to push into each other more and more, and your shield is getting pushed right up into you... And now, the pilum itself is slowly getting pushed into you, and you're wearing no armour... Oh man. That's horrifying.

[@pepaphantom]

deektedrgg That’s a horrific thought. I always tend to think of the “immediate” kill when a pilum punctures straight through, but put into that context, that’s a nasty way to go.

[@duranpredur1098]

Why would you not be wearing armor?

[@PJDAltamirus0425]

@@duranpredur1098 Because you are to poor and most of Rome's Imperial enemies lacked the slave power and economic organization to make armor inexpensive for every fighting man. Most troops in imperial Rome's enemies just have a helmet and no real body armor..

[@nonna_sof5889]

I always imagine it hitting your hand and/or arm behind your shield. Effectively nailing them together. Now you're in horrible pain with a severely encumbered shield, a mostly useless shield arm, and lots of angry Romans coming at you.

[@Gearhead49d]

@@duranpredur1098 Some Gallic tribes would usually wear only clothes or be naked sometimes wearing only war paint.

[@chrisball3778]

I love the use of Peter Connolly's illustrations in this video. His vivid depictions of classical-era soldiers and warfare have seldom been bettered. I first encountered them as a child, and adored his books. To this day, when I think of Roman Legionaries or Greek Hoplites, its his versions I tend to imagine. He was a scholar as well as an artist, so his depictions always drew upon the best archaeological and historical knowledge available to him at the time.

[@HoldenCross_]

"The long and narrow shaft leads to deep penetration" Oh my.

[@2008davidkang]

Puts the plumbata into utter shame and severe belittlement.

[@anthonyhodgson825]

Thank you for the greater context and explanations after your previous video.

[@joannakleinheksel-horn3494]

This video was fascinating! Very nicely presented :-)

[@PomaiKajiyama]

You also gotta put it into context what types of foes the Romans were fighting when they decided to make larger heavier javelins and basically develop the "Roman style" of infantry that they are known for, which was primarily the Phalanx style that Alexander had spread across the ancient world. They weren't using large shields in fighting and instead relied on the "forest of spears" to deflect the energy away from missile weapons, so your assessment that the Pilum are not designed as an "anti-shield" weapon specifically makes sense, but as part of a combined arms weapons set that includes the large scutum and a short cut and thrust sword like the gladius. I can imagine that after seeing the lighter javelins thrown by the auxillia bounce around the phalanx formation some ingenious Roman went "Imagine if instead we threw a really heavy spear that head heavy that can do damage just from the weight alone even if it hits the pikes before landing on someone".

[@uazfoursixnine]

So much good information; it cleared a lot of my questions. Looking forward to more!

[@peterebel]

I like this more structured type of video. Good work! I still want some mad ranting, though!

[@2008davidkang]

"Man going insane in his backyard over Bannerlord multiplayer loss"

[@stephenyoung8069]

This was wonderful! Do more! Next do the Dane Axe

[@jlcontarino]

Love this new format, looking forward to more similar videos!

[@Mike_of_the_Sonora]

Very awesome work! very interesting !

[@richpurslow3283]

First of all i want to say that this was a well put together video, informative and decent. Second i want to say that i love the osprey books and the artwork in them is incredible. To my eyes the main objective of the pilum is armour penetration. Maximum effort over the smallest surface area is the old recipe for armour penetration. I remember seeing a piece of artwork showing a pack mule with the legion carrying bundles of replacement shafts for the pilums and the two/three pins would make it easy to get these weapons serviceable again post battle. I imagine you wouldnt need much of a furnace/heat to get them to bend back into shape. As for the ball bit i believe it to be a lead weight, something to make it heavier to transfer more energy into the target. the best way to find out tho is to recreate them and test them loads. Just my oppinion mind.

[@keesjanhoeksema9575]

This is at least as pleasing as reading and looking at A well illustrated book on historical warfare! Thnx from Amsterdam,

[@ajm2872]

Well done! Love the documentary format.

[@fuferito]

Superlative work, as always, Matt. Solid conclusion regarding the pilum's solid design. On the subject of pila in combat, Suetonius said it best before the Battle of Watling Street against Boudica. *Throw the javelins, then push forward: knock them [the enemy] down with your shields and finish them off with your swords.* Pila were always thrown. There may have been exceptions, of course, but they are just that. Exceptions.

[@koncorde]

If that's how they were always used, why would Gaius Suetonius Paulinus have to explain it to seasoned legionaries? It is likely he is repeating common battle tactics to reiterate the importance, but it does suggest that there was an alternative mindset or instinct to overcome (and doesn't explain who actually had the pilum, or how many).

[@DevinSmith56]

Awesome stuff Matt, love to see things like this.

[@TemenosL]

I completely agree. I believe it's primary function was to wound through a shield facing.

[@UnholyTerra]

Thank you for this very educational video! Can’t wait to show it to my friends.

[@casperdog777]

excellent piece very informative - I was lucky enough to go to the Novium museum (Chichester.). I was able to see the armour and gladius and pilum that they have. These are top class reproduction pieces. The Pilum explantion makes perfect sense.

[@LuxisAlukard]

More documentaries like this? Nice!

[@wagujulemos609]

Interesting to know there were different types for certain Combat scenarios.

[@occhamite]

Certainly the best presentation on this subject I've seen.... As the pilum was thrown immediately before contact was made, and often remained embedded in the shield if not actually in the enemy, could part of the rationale for it have been to be re-grasped by a Roman, and used to pull down the enemy shield, or control his actions? Once the charge was made, could it have been pushed the rest of the way through the shield, skewering the opponent?

[@tomdegisi]

Would need an extra hand, so maybe???

[@occhamite]

@@tomdegisi uh no. The gladius could be scabbarded, freeing a hand. Perhaps the second maniple could either defend the first, or deal with the embedded pilium, a bit after the fashion of the second rank augmenting the first in the Greek Phalanx.

[@jacobpahl972]

I really like your essay like video. Do more of these videos more often good job.

[@bretalvarez3097]

I can tell that Matt was smiling every time he said “deep penetration”

[@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis]

I really like the new style of video. Maybe you could add a part at the end in the usual style, that we can get a good look on the real thing.

[@kkperu6375]

@scholagladiatora Hi Matt, I fully agree with you now that I think about it: if the pilum was designed to bend when impacting a shield due to shear forces, then that would take away the penetrative effect. And i think you're right that the goal is harm the man behind the shield and any bending is a bonus. Thank you, you really shed some good light on this.

[@MrBottlecapBill]

I agree that this is 100% designed for penetration to not only damage a shield but the person behind it( why else would you need such a long iron shaft?). Or........to get through armour or horses or elephants or anything that gets in the way. The fact they have the sharp butt end leads me to believe they were stuck in the ground for easy access if and when needed. I see the front line only being able to launch one effective volley, then forming a shield wall. However.......the back ranks could continue plucking them from the ground and throwing them well after the enemy lines thicken up. So one volley to take out shields and men at first contact. Then you wait a bit until the enemy adjusts and fills their ranks with new men and shields, fatigue sets in and shields begin to drop a bit. Then BAM you hit them with another volley from the back ranks. This would also explain why the number of pilla carried seems to vary. In fact each rank might carry a different number.

[@koncorde]

This is a good summary. Many uses, many tactics, versatile. 10,000 legionaries with 20,000 pilum between them would decimate in a few seconds the approaching force at close range, and then the second, third rank etc and so would throw. It's the ancient equivalent of a volley fire formation - later used with crossbows to the same effect - take out the armoured and bravest of the enemy and sow discord.

[@mikesummers-smith4091]

I like this as an alternative format: it makes for variety. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the variation in design and use was down to individual legions and their centurions (NCOs were one of the greatest Roman inventions). "Look, lad - I've been throwing pila since before you were a twinkle in your dad's eye. Do it my way, or you're on permanent latrine duty."

[@vanivanov9571]

Yeah, so the idea that all pila were this or that way, as some have been throwing around, saying they all bend or none bend, is ludicrous. Matt's points about reinforced pila are almost totally irrelevant as to how pila were used in other times and places, it shows that military doctrines were changing with time and place.

[@ltjamescoopermason8685]

Interesting educational and entertaining thanks for this for a change from your excellent talks.

[@kairyumina6407]

This was great, please do more like this

[@mastathrash5609]

Love this style of video. Would love to see little exposés' on other weapons like this 👍

[@vegapunk100]

In the battle of Pharsalus Ceaser vs Pompei, Ceaser drew 1 cohort from each legion to form a third line which he drew behind is numerically inferior cavalry in the flank to "stab the horses of the pompeians" once his cavalry gave ground which it was expected to

[@Intranetusa]

Yep, there is a lot of evidence that the Romans used the pila in melee combat as thrusting spears (so they had to be sturdy), including: 1) Caear's writings about Alesia said he had his troops first use pilums as spears/pikes before switching to swords. "omissis pilis gladiis rem gerunt" (with their javelins set down they pressed the attack with their swords). -Gallic Wars Book VII 2) Plutarch describes Caesar's men at Pharsalus jabbing upwards at the faces of Pompey's cavalry with their javelins. "And this was what actually came to pass; for they could not endure the upward thrust of the javelins..." -"The Life of Julius Caesar" by Plutarch 3) Plutarch in Life of Antony 45 talks about Mark Antony's legions using their pila to thrust at Parthians in melee. In this incidence, pilas would definitely be of primary importance and much more useful in melee than their short swords, 4) We have reliefs on Roman artwork showing Romans using pila in melee combat stabbing at Dacian infantry. See Tropaeum Traiani 5) Arrian in Array against the Alans (2nd century AD) talks about legionary heavy infantry equipped with an iron shank weapon used to thrust at horses: "And the front four ranks of the formation must be of spearmen, whose spearpoints end in thin iron shanks. And the foremost of them should hold them at the ready, in order that when the enemies near them, they can thrust the ironpoints of the spears at the breast of the horses in particular. Those standing in second, third an fourth rank of the formation must hold their spears ready for thrusting if possible, wounding the horses and killing the horsemen and put the rider out of action with the spear stuck in their heavy body armour and the iron point bent because of the softness." -Array against Alans by Arrian

[@vegapunk100]

@@Intranetusa I like your 5th example shows how scary cavalry intent on charging was if the fourth rank at to be ready tohopefully give the final blows to the horse and horseman, the first 2 ranks are expected to get trampled haha, not equipping your infantry with some sort of polearm is almost retarded

[@dochteur1886]

The glaring sucess of Caesars army in routing pompeian cavalry at Pharsalus might not be so decidedly resting on using pilas in melee though. There are many examples of smaller cavalry force ovewhelming the opposing cavalry, when intermingled with groups of their own infantry of generally any kind and armament, which allowed them to gain an advantage quickly. Not keeping unengaged reserves and charging too far away from any available supporting units caused general rout and subsequent dissolution of their whole cavalry force, which ceased to exist as an efficient fighting force in short amount of time and with minimal losses for the opponent, if this could be supposed by extrapolation from more recent examples of such events.

[@Intranetusa]

@@vegapunk100 Haha, ye...I wouldn't want to be in the first few ranks. The Romans usually adopted what works, so the core legions wouldn't have abandoned polearms such as the heavy thrusting spear if the pila wasn't also able to serve as a polearm/thrusting spear when the situation required.

[@knightforlorn6731]

A great source of information. I love this program. Greetings from the jolly ol' USA

[@AriasRequiem]

Jeepers, could you imagine being in a formation trying to survive a volley of those things flying at you? Arrows are bad enough, but 400 or so of those things hammering in from a volley? Madness!

[@Intranetusa]

This is a great video that takes into new archaeological work/scholarship to correct the older misconceptions of the pilum. (eg. that it was meant to bend or was exclusively a throwing weapon)

[@Intranetusa]

​@Seeking Deliverance It was intended to be a multipurpose weapon that could be thrown or could also be used in melee. There are many accounts of the pila being used as a thrusting weapon in melee. Plutarch describes this in at least two different situation with Caesar's legions and Marc Antony's legions where pila are used to stab at cavalry. The Dacian War monument column built in Dacia itself has murals of the pila being used underhand to thrust against infantry. Arrian in Array against the Alans talks about 2nd century legions having a weapon with a "thin iron shank" being used to thrust against horses and the front ranks acting like spearmen. Caesar's writings about Alesia also says the pila were used like pikes before the legions switched to their swords.

[@mrhoplite2931]

Impressive amount of information - i really enjoy your presentation. Always very detailed, on interesting subject!

[@DrTarrandProfessorFether]

Auxilia enter battle with three light Lancea (spears). Legionaries go into battle with one Pilum but there would be more brought up. After we throw (letting the public throw out 20 light spears, the battlefield looks like a porcupine’s back… and they do stick well in soft ground. I tell the public tossing these it to get the enemy to drop their shields… and you have 4 of them stick in your shield, it becomes difficult to use.

[@RonOhio]

Looking at that drawing of the range of designs, it popped into my head that that design would be ideal for forging the heads in some central location to be shipped to garrisons on the frontier to be fitted with locally produced wooden shafts.

[@alexandersarchives9615]

Great video! Now all we need is a Sarissa testing video

[@aluminiumknight4038]

Great video!

[@James-rm7sr]

I would like to point out that I would think the construction having 2 or 3 pins holding the head on is for replacement reasons. If the head got damaged which is the most likely damaged part of any spear head. It can easily get replaced. The head appears like you stated to be made to go through armor. Which if it got thrown and say the guy didn't block the Pilum with the shield. The Pilum goes into the guy and pulling it out likely bends the thing making it needing the reforged. Also, the bending aspect might be handy if it goes into a person. If someone goes to pull it out. The Pilum will likely bend or maybe even break off or at very least do more damage to the person trying to remove it. I would say it is more likely that it was designed to go into a person if you look at the shape and length. I don't think it was only for shields.

[@thegangvault2]

Matt what do you think of the notion that the Romans would try to step on or "walk up" the pila after they had thrown them? Imagine a whole bunch of pilum getting stuck into shields... naturally they angle up towards the shield bearer and the back of them would tend to stick into the ground or nearly so... as a Roman soldier, perhaps they stepped on the end of the pila and forced the shield out of the enemy hands, or down so as to throw the second pila (or perhaps a second line of troops throws theirs). There have been some experiments showing that these were in fact very effective at penetrating shields at the time, some even say they might have penetrated two and pinned them together. And finally we have the case where an enemy soldier is charging, gets a pila stuck in his shield, and via his own momentum the back of it sticks into the ground and he literally runs himself through before he has time to stop.

[@WalkaCrookedLine]

I keep thinking the long head is at least partially there to improve balance. Iron is about 10 times denser than wood, so even that narrow shaft is probably heavier than an equivalent length of wooden shaft. This would make the pilum point heavy which aids flying straight. I'd love to see Matt give a simple demonstration of the pilum's center of gravity to see where it is on the length of the pilum.

[@joejoelesh1197]

The artwork at 2:06 I recall seeing that same picture in a book I had as a child. Who is the artist? It is very well done (artistically, if not also historically). It seems like the artist deserves more credit as their work is still the standard for at least 30 years.

[@noelebbert9322]

I loved this great video.

[@paulrichardallen8953]

More videos in this style please Matt

[@ChristianMcAngus]

Intentionally designing the shank to bend, or come loose from the shaft, on impact would probably make it too weak. So this would be mostly an urban myth. Could the pilum also have evolved with a secondary purpose of deterring cavalry charges?

[@hazzardalsohazzard2624]

I don't have a source for this, but I think there were defensive formations used by legionaries with the pila used as spears in the first and second rank to deter cavalry charges.

[@Intranetusa]

@@hazzardalsohazzard2624 Yes. Plutarch writes that pila were used as thrusting spears against cavalry in several different occasions in "Life of Caesar" and "Life of Antony."

[@Ake-TL]

ChristophInns well, they come up with design that requires significantly more iron for some reason.

[@vanivanov9571]

Did you look at the pila in the video? Just the ones he showed had incredibly narrow shanks, and even his extra-heavy one ended up bending against straw (he somehow made it worse, taking it out). This wasn't an urban myth, but something attested by historians, and people with a knowledge of physics.

[@AriasRequiem]

@@vanivanov9571 I agree that they would often bend on hard impact, but I don't think that was the goal in the design, simply what happens when they are made of iron instead of hardened steel. Steel would have been costly for weapons meant primarily to be thrown, and thus likely lost.

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

I seem to recall that some of the manuals refer to two or three javelins being carried, with only one being heavier. Darts are usually mentioned as being more numerous IIRC when used (~5 darts comes to mind), and would replace javelins or bows depending on context, for infantry and for cavalry. Slings were surprisingly wide-spread, being wrapped around the waist like a belt when not in use and handy as a foraging aid.

[@kevinjameswhite]

I always imagined the pilum was thrown forward-upwards as apposed to at the target shown in your previous video. Thus the force receiving the charge had to choose; defend against the (now) traveling downwards pilum or defend against the charge

[@Krommer1000]

Interesting stuff. I kept waiting for it to bend in the vid yesterday, and was like, either that's built better, or all those docs I've seen were BS.

[@vanivanov9571]

Yes, it was built a LOT better. Matt mentioned in a comment in the video he first posted, of throwing the pilum, that it was very thick. Like, pilum vary a lot in thickness, but he got one thicker than the thickest. It's also some kind of mild steel, rather than iron with impurities. Despite all this, and throwing it into a straw mat, it still bent. Somehow, he concluded a thinner shank thrown by a stronger man into a shield would not bend.

[@brianrose3096]

Excellent presentation

[@cameronstewart6832]

Love it, thanks for the video!

[@ashwilliams666]

Great video matt

[@lalbus1607]

Giovanni Brizzi suggested that the heavy pilum with the ball shape was introduced to deal with heavy armoured targets such as the Partian armoured horseman. He also associates the introduction of the heavy pilum with the time of the Battle of Carrhae.

[@jamesfrankiewicz5768]

We definitely need some experimental archaeology when it comes to that ball-attachment for the pilum. Get some pila made with some ball attachments, but have them made with iconographically-appropriate size, but out of various different materials (maybe: wood, copper, iron, and lead), then see how this changes the performance of the weapon. If the ball is too heavy, it might move the point of balance too far back to fly in a stable manner, so we might be able to either rule out a particular material, or rule out a pilum being used as a thrown weapon when modified that way.

[@palabragris]

An excellent video as always, even more so in this case. Let's summon the algorithm gods to promote this.

[@chibikensan]

Awesome piece of work

[@siegnant]

Well done and informative. Nice video!

[@TyLarson]

Shared with my friends in italy who are making the second edition of Lex Arcana.

[@frombaerum]

may I ask you Matt, why did you not mention it used as a anti cavalry weapon, such as in the battle of Pharsalus?