spear or pilum?

[Robert Vermaat]

Also, I encountered the argument that the length of the spear - 7 feet or more - suggests its use as a primarily thrusting weapon. However - how do we know that hastae were that long? What archaeological evidence do we possess? The images suggest that hastae were about human height (about the hight of pila) - yes, they could have been shown shorter than they were due to the limitation of the image, but we do not know if they actually have.

That is indeed a problem.
We've discussed Later Roman spear length earlier.
To summarise, there are NO finds of spear/lance shafts from the Roman empire, so we are left guessing. However, we have scant evidence from artistic sources (see the above discussion) that infantry spears could be longer than the 'normal' lengths seen on funerary monuments etc. I’m all for the argument that carving in stone would limit the size of the spear depicted, I think that goes for the pilum as well as the hasta, but it does not bring us any further to proving how long they exactly were.

The only spear shaft finds from this period are from Denmark. Lengths range between 7 feet and 9 feet, 2.13 to 2.74 metres, which is certainly acceptable for infantry weapons. Now it can be argued that these had nothing whatsoever to do with anything comparable on the Roman side, but arguments have been made that Roman military evolution is reflected in the German/Scandinavian zone, and that Danish spear lengths there might therefore reflect Roman spear lengths. I like that argument, but that’s just me.

What texts showing that infantry hasta was a thrusting spear do you have in mind?

Well, I’ve been suggesting several already over the past days.
Paul is right of course, the word ‘hasta’ is too common to just look at any author who uses that word, so we also have to look for synonyms. But several sources use the word hasta for the long cavalry thrusting spear as well as the long thrusting infantry spear. I’ll run the list by you again.

Livy called the ‘sarissa’ a ‘praelonga hasta’ (Ab Urbe Condita XXXII.17.13, XXXIII.8.12, XXXVI.18.7, XXXVII.42.4, XLIV.41.7). he clearly uses ‘hasta’ for a very long thrusting spear.

Curtius Rufus called the ‘sarissa’ a ‘hasta’ (Historiae Alexandri Magni III.2.13, IX.7.19. Same as Livy then, he has a long thrusting spear in mind.

Arrian’s kontos is used several times during the battle sequence, which is impossible if throwing had been meant (Arrian, Acies 16-17, 26), and a ‘kontos’ is the synonym for the 8-12 ft (2.4-3.6 m) cavalry lance.

Herodian referred to the Roman army as “an infantry force which was invincible in close-quarter fighting with spearsâ€