07-15-2013, 04:05 PM
That all ranks throw two pila at once is a standard academic model that has some plausibility issues as soon as you try it on the green.
You can argue for different modes as well, like combined arms approaches and rotating ranks. Rotating ranks can have front ranks that throw and fight with the gladius afterwards and back ranks waiting with their pila until called up. A modification proposed is passing pila along to a specialized front rank thrower (lack of evidence, we just know specialized slingers among the legions). A combined arms mode can have one swordfighting front rank and a stabbing and throwing pilum rank right behind them. All these ideas have for sure been tried and evaluated during the long history of Roman warfare. Having two heavy javelins was a common practice in ancient Greece and Italy, while carrying about 5 lighter darts (like the plumbata).
Personally, I think the way pilas are thrown can be unorthodox, using the same movement as with a staff sling on occasion, making them "single use staffslings" so to say with much more power, but little aim behind the throw. This would enable a better participation of the back ranks. Neither do we know if all legionaries carried the same arrangements of pila or whether they had mission and position specific types and numbers of pila.
You can argue for different modes as well, like combined arms approaches and rotating ranks. Rotating ranks can have front ranks that throw and fight with the gladius afterwards and back ranks waiting with their pila until called up. A modification proposed is passing pila along to a specialized front rank thrower (lack of evidence, we just know specialized slingers among the legions). A combined arms mode can have one swordfighting front rank and a stabbing and throwing pilum rank right behind them. All these ideas have for sure been tried and evaluated during the long history of Roman warfare. Having two heavy javelins was a common practice in ancient Greece and Italy, while carrying about 5 lighter darts (like the plumbata).
Personally, I think the way pilas are thrown can be unorthodox, using the same movement as with a staff sling on occasion, making them "single use staffslings" so to say with much more power, but little aim behind the throw. This would enable a better participation of the back ranks. Neither do we know if all legionaries carried the same arrangements of pila or whether they had mission and position specific types and numbers of pila.
