#pilum

#ARCHEOLOGIA #SCOPERTE / Straordinario ritrovamento in #Israele: da una grotta riemergono quattro spade romane (con fodero) e la punta di un giavellotto [FOTO, VIDEO] Tutti i dettagli su Storie & Archeostorie

Le spade dopo il ritrovamento (foto: ©Israel Antiquities Authority) Quattro spade romane e la punta di un giavellotto (pilum), tutti risalenti a circa 1900 anni fa, sono stati rinvenuti in perfetto stato di conservazione in Israele a Seliq, all’interno di una grotta nella riserva naturale di En Gedi (o Ein Gedi), un’oasi sulla sponda occidentale del mar Morto. Il ritrovamento, annunciato a…

I brought some new art I made specially for my new price list, because my style changed.

No more lineart, now fluffy acrilic brush is my mew friend.

First of all this cute girl belongs to my dear friend @viralay secondly... I'm sooo proud of this drawing!! This! This is how I wanted to draw all along! Soft and realistic but you still clearly see that this is art, not a photo. A painting, a pure piece of art! And I will try to make other arts to look like that, to have a special atmosphere in it, and most important - not to loose atmosphere working on details.

Ans also I did small sketch of Asriel and Chara for price list too.

Now I'm disappearing into the studies and work! Have a good day!

I drew a female roman soldier

I am a Legionary!

The Roman Pilum

One of the most underrated weapons in Roman history, I have yet to see a modern popular media outlet depict the use of the pilum by Roman armies. The gladius and scutum certainly gets it’s due, but I the pilum is forgotten history to most with the exception of Roman historians and history buffs.

The pilum was a javelin that was primarily used as a ranged weapon, but in many cases has also been used as a melee weapon. The pilum consisted of a pyramidal shaped head on a long iron shaft with a handle. They were specially weighted so that when thrown they would land head first. Typically the shaft of the pilum was made out of a low grade, soft form of iron that could bend easily. The purpose of this was so that it was a one time use only weapon so that the enemy couldn't chuck them back at you. In addition, if a pilum became embedded within a shield it could make the shield unwieldy to use or perhaps completely useless. Thus it wasn't uncommon for volleys of pila to be used to break up enemy shield walls. The following video by ThegnThrand shows how effective the pilum could be for this purpose.

Many pila were manufactured with strengthened shafts instead of the bendable soft iron shaft, it is theorized these were specialty pila made for melee combat. The typical Roman soldier carried two or three pila. In the late 3rd century the pilum was phased out of service. During this time the Roman Army began changing and modifying it's equipment, switching out their short gladius for a longer sword called the spatha while carrying long spears or pikes. There are many theories about this, perhaps a post I shall make in the future, but the theory I hold the most stock in is Romans began carrying longer and heavier equipment due to the increased use of heavy cavalry by it's enemies, cataphracts in the east for example. Thus the cohort legionary tactics of the late republic and early empire evolved into a tactical system akin to the phalanxes of Macedonia and the early Roman Republic. 

Regardless the adoption of heavier equipment meant that the Romans abandoned the pilum with the exception of light infantry units. However the Romans would replace the pilum with another ancient throwing weapon called the plumbata, a weighted dart of which many could be clipped within the inside of soldier’s shields.

The Romans were arguably one of the most successful conquerors of the ancient world. At the height of their power, the Roman Empire stretched from the British Isles in the north to Egypt in the south, and from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Mesopotamia in the east. A number of important factors contributed to their success as a military force, one of which being the weapons that they used.