Update on the Spatha and Gladius fighting techniques!

[Sean Manning]

Thanks for the encouragement, I actually thought about doing just that when I am satisfied with my research. Until then I do recommend to study the vids of ACTA Archeo regarding Gladiator combat techniques.
The Facebook page above is also very good, though I doubt the part concerning the shield thrust. This opens your inside line in the same bad way as criticized in the otherpictures bevore. Even worse, if the defender is not as compliant as assumed here, he can further manipulate your shield away from your body since you offer him the "weak" of your shield and he has the better lever to apply.

I think that they might be extrapolating from techniques for a round, flat shield with a vertical centre grip. I think that a curved, rectangular shield with a horizontal centre grip probably used different techniques. A number of archaeologists have assumed that the bosses of flat shields were for striking, because Tacitus describes Roman soldiers striking with the umbo, but that may work better with curved scuta than flat shields.

A lot of Roman art shows thrusts with the bottom edge of the shield, but the cave of the shield usually faces to the ground.