The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

spatha in an archaeological dig does not always signify a cavalry unit. This type
of sword could vary in length from 26 to 36 inches (65 cm to 90 cm), and in
width from 1.5 inches to 3 inches (4 cm to 8 cm). The ends were usu a lly
rounded, or only slightly tapered, and the handgrips were of wood, sometimes
reinforced with metal. Two cavalrymen of the second century ad were buried at
Canterbury in England, each with a spatha, with some traces of wood still adhering
to the top of the blade (Dixon and Southern, 1992; Feugère, 2002). The
spatha was suspended from a baldric over the shoulder, usually on the right side
during the first century ad. Modern experiments have shown that it is possible
to withdraw the sword quite easily from the right side while on horseback, but
there was a change in the second century when according to sculptural evidence
the spatha began to be worn on the left side. A funeral monument from Augsburg
shows a soldier called Tertiolus and his servant handing him a baldric and
spatha (Feugère, 2002).
The Pugio
Legi on a ries and auxiliaries are shown on sculptu res we a ring their daggers on
the oppo s i te side to their sword s . These may not have been used for com b a t ,
and they are not mentioned at all by Polybius, even though examples have been
found in Spain dating from the second century bc, so they were used by the sold
i ers wh om Po lybius de s c ri bed . The daggers and parti c u l a rly their scabb a rd s
were very often more highly decorated than the gladii and were clearly of importance
to the soldiers. They had a leaf-shaped blade and were shorter than the
sword, generally about 35 cm, or just over 1 foot long.
Artillery
Tools of Wa r 213
The crews of the field artillery were specialists but were never formed into specific
sep a ra te units. In s te ad they were drawn from the legi on a ry cen tu ries to
man the machines and presumably to look after them and repair them. The artillerymen
were immunes and did not have to perform routine fatigues.
Roman arti ll ery was of t wo kinds, s i n gle or do u bl e - a rm ed , a l t h o u gh the
s i n gl e - a rm ed stone thrower did not come into use until the fo u rth cen tu ry
(Goldsworthy, 2003). Caesar uses the general description tormenta when writing
of artillery, without distinguishing between the different types of machines.
There is some confusion among ancient and modern works about the terminology
applied to Roman artillery, in that catapulta as mentioned by Vitruvius (De
Architectura 10.10) appears less frequently in modern works than the term ball
i s t a , wh i ch is of ten em p l oyed for all types of m achines wh et h er they shot