Roman
Roman Shipboard Weapons II
 Grapnels such as this, attached to lengths of rope, were thrown to ensnare an enemy ship and to pull it close enough to enable it to be boarded. A variation of this was attached to a shaft (the harpax) which could be shot from an artillery piece for longer range. Iron grapnel, second century AD. Boarding Before the Punic…
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Rome’s military decline and fall.
Europe in 477 CE. Highlighted areas are Roman lands that survived the deposition of Romulus Augustulus Rome clearly evolved over time; however, many of these changes were not healthful to the empire. Indeed, some changes led to its decline and fall, although historians differ as to which ones proved fatal.…
MILITARY STAFF DEVELOPMENT IN ANCIENTÂ ARMIES
The two officers in the background are tribunes; that on the right the artist rendered as being a tribunus laticlavius. The two in the foreground are the Legate, and the primus pilus. Contrary to HBO, the thinking amongst most historians is that term means something like “first pillar,” not “first…
Early Imperial Roman Cavalry
To the Romans, the military meant the legions, brigades of Roman citizens commanded by senior senators. They realized that these needed supplementation, but organized the cavalry and light-armed troops they employed as “auxiliaries,” or supplementary troops, in alae and cohorts commanded by prefects of equestrian origin. Cavalry performed such a…
Roman Command and control in action
The tradition of the Republic had been that a senator should be prepared to serve the state in whatever capacity it demanded, and be proficient. A practical people, the Romans believed that the man chosen by the competent authority would be up to the task in hand. In the Republic…
Roman Shipboard Weapons I
 Rams The earliest rams, which emerged in the mid-ninth century BC, transformed warfare on water from an encounter between armed men on vessels, to a battle between the vessels themselves for the ram made the ship that mounted it into the weapon, a guided missile no less. The earliest…
Roman Shipboard Weapons II
 Grapnels such as this, attached to lengths of rope, were thrown to ensnare an enemy ship and to pull it close enough to enable it to be boarded. A variation of this was attached to a shaft (the harpax) which could be shot from an artillery piece for longer…