spear or pilum?

[Robert Vermaat]

By scaling this against the figure, ( swing it upright) it becomes apparent that the weapon is a lttle over the soldier's height - lancea length !

Refresh my memory - what are you arguing that the lancea was? A thrusting or throwing spear?
I would say the spear length (a man's height or taller) seems to be what we (today) in general refer to as a hasta?

On a more general note, I am getting the strong impression ( see e.g. enquiries on the 'Byzantine weapons' thread - though I wish I had a copy of Maurice! ) that like 'Hasta' in latin, 'kontos' has a generic meaning; in this case of, "any thick shafted weapon/shaft/pole, especially if tipped with iron".... and that its specific meaning depends on context, or whatever shafted weapon happens to be in vogue at a particular period....thus it can apply equally to a boathook, a punting pole/bargepole, a heavy cavalry spear, or a 'pilum' :? ) D

Yeah, I noticed you were thinking of that. However, I can't follow you there. You would have to prove at what point the kontos would start changing meaning from a thrusting spear to a throwing spear, if you want ancient authors to use it a translation for a pilum. For at this moment I think that throughout Roman military history it did not change meaning - it remains mainly used for a thrusting spear, either with cavalry or infantry.

So why would any author it also denote a throwing spear, seeing that we have enough words for such a weapon?

And if you discount Arrian for the moment (I promise I deal with Arrian's Acies 16, 17 and 26 in great detail soon), are there occurances where we clearly can see that an author used the word 'kontos' for a 'pilum'without doubt?