Current Events > Did Roman legionaries fight more like heavy skirmishes than shock infantry?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The most common depiction of Roman legionaries fighting in media is the Romans fighting in a shoulder to shoulder close order shieldwall against unorganized mobs of shirtless barbarians. We've seen this is that one famous battle scene from HBO's Rome where the Romans are packed like sardines fighting the Gauls with the Romans occassionally rotating the front rank fighters.

However these interpretations are lacking. One because our sources never mention individual warriors as being rotated but whole units, iirc. Polybios, who was a military man and was present in various Roman wars, makes a contrast between Macedonian pikemen and Roman legionaries. According to Polybios the Romans of his time fought in a fairly loose formation. He writes that each Roman would have at least six feet of open space around him. Polybios takes it for granted that these warriors needed at minimum six feet to properly use their sword and shield. Another point was made by a Russian scholar, his name escapes me, and he showed that Roman legionaries didn't hurl their javelins all at once but they would constantly throw their pilum through the battle.

This kinda goes against pop history and the media depiction of Roman combat. Likewise in an area I like to study there's been murmurs on how Greek hoplites fought with scholars like Hans van Wees and Peter Krentz thinking Greek hoplites fought in a more fluid and open order rather than a shoulder to shoulder shieldwall. Or even the Spartan's style of combat during the Greco-Persian Wars, Herodotos description of the Spartans fighting methods sound more at home with 300 than a formation of men packed like sardines. Herodotos doesn't outright say it, you have to reas between the lines, but the Spartans also had helots armed with light weaponry being part of the same group as the Spartans. Really interesting stuff.
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You should read Victor Davis Hanson's early work. That's all he wrote about. Unfortunately now he's become some kind of anti-immigration activist but his early work about Greek and Roman warfare is politics free and is considered the definitive modern interpretation.
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on Hardcore History, Dan Carlin suggests that it's likely ancient battles were more like a collection of skirmishes and retreats than the Game of Thrones style 'run to your death with the whole army' thing
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brestugo posted...

You should read Victor Davis Hanson's early work. That's all he wrote about. Unfortunately now he's become some kind of anti-immigration activist but his early work about Greek and Roman warfare is politics free and is considered the definitive modern interpretation.

I'm sorta familiar with VDH Western Way of War. I had read it once and personally I think VDH gets a lot wrong. I know Hans van Wees wrote his book on the myths of Greek Warfare as a response to VDH WWW. Sadly I haven't read it but I have read Wees papers he put out for free as well as the thesis publish by one his former student. If I get the chance I'll say what I think VDH gets wrongs in WWW.
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No.
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Polybios wrote of the Early Republic period before the Marius Reforms and the traditional Legionaires came into existence. Before the reforms the Romans often fought with round shields and spears, and it was only during the reform that most Legionaires fought with the Gladius and Scutum. The scutum itself is what made the closed-rank style effective, as it's large size guaranteed that Romans could close with their opponents safely and utilize tighter cooperation in close quarters to punch into enemy formations. The "short" gladius was adopted as the best weapon for fighting in such tight spaces, as it was both deadly and easily manuervable compared to spears. Essentially, the Roman's used their great wealth and economy to outfit their soldiers with the best personal defensive equipment available, then taught them to use that equipment to fight in tight groups so that they could protect each other at the same time, and then adopted the gladius as their best compromise for fighting in close quarters. It all ties back to the scutum, however.
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