"National Roman Legion"

[Caius Fabius]

Hmmn, don't we run the risk though, if we deny they fought in tight-ish formations of actually allowing the initial scenes of gladiator to take place?

I have heard time and time again that scene being scorned because it portrays one on one fighting and so on, but from the above postulations, and taking into account what has already been mentioned about the enemy taking advantage of gaps, these scenes would not seem too far fetched then.


As I have said above, didn't the barbarians usually fight apart for exactly those reasons? (and the larger swords requiring extra swinging space). If the above theories to taken into consideration, if the cohorts did start as a shield wall, I have no doubts by the end of the battle they would not.

I thought the whole point of the effectiveness of the roman killing machine was they stayed in formation, not allowing the battle to disentegrate into small duels, where the romans would surely be maulled? (Unlike their barbarian enemies)

Where do these ideas come from? Not the historical writings, which show individual combats, room to fight, and duels, but movies and drawings from the 20th century? You might take a moment to read "Soldiers and Ghosts" by Lendon?

As far as the Roman foot being different, with 3 different measurements from different times, the overall distance lost is less than 8 centimeters, from 5 Roman feet, so the soldier was not packed shoulder to shoulder, unlike the previous phalanx or later shield wall.

The Roman superiority was from training to work together, covering each other in depth, being able to fight for long periods (trained with double weight weapons), flexibility of small units to the situation, and logistical superiority over most opponents. Loads of other factors, but fighting in a shield wall is not one of those cited by ancient sources unless you refer to the tortoise formation. Also see Connolly, Peddie, and Goldsworthy for Romans fighting in a semi-open order. I tend to forget the Wargames rules, and cool films and stick to what we can find in the historical record.

Why did the battle sequences in "Gladiator" suck? To me it was because the Romans didn't throw their pila. :lol: