Did the Romans fight left-handed?

[Theodosius the Great]

Just to add another factor : Wasn't "left" considered bad luck by the Romans ?
(the latin word for left is the root word for our modern "sinister", IIRC )

~Theo

[Alanus]

As far as cavalry goes the "spatha" would be worn on the left for the "crossed draw" and the smaller shield isn't as much of a hindrance. I wouldn't want the scabbard to be bouncing around on the right side while on horseback.

Well, it seems the ancients don't agree with you! Because they often wore their swords on the right, and it doesn't seem to have bothered them. Why would it "bounce around" less on the left, anyway? And the shield really isn't significantly smaller (same size as the auxiliary infantry, in any case!). Google around for images or movies of Roman cavalry reenactors, in fact there are a couple with the Ermine Street Guard in the UK, and you'll see their swords on the right.

If you were a late Roman cavalryman (about one o'clock in the morning 8) ) you would argue that the spatha was carried on the left side. Fine to wear it on the right if you're early Ermine Street Guard, but a member of the Equites Taifali or Equites Catafractarii would be cross-drawing from the left.

[Phaichtos]

Interestingly, I *just* read something in Livy's description of the Battle of Cannae which reminded me of this thread:

When the Numidians hurled their javelins on the right, the unprotected side, they [the Romans] transferred their shields to their right arms, and so got clear away to the larger camp. As many as 600 escaped on this occasion, and after another large body had joined them they at once left the camp and came through safely to Canusium. This action on the part of defeated men was due to the impulse of natural courage or of accident rather than to any concerted plan of their own or any one's generalship. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 22.50.

True this is probably a bit earlier than you guys are talking about, but it still to me seems to show that the Romans as a matter of course (at least in the 3rd century BCE) didn't put lefties on the right hand side of the maniples for the added protection or anything. Livy seems to drive the point home that the soldiers' switching hands with their shields wasn't because their commanders told them to (which would suggest it was perhaps something which was practiced now and again) but rather sort of a last-ditch attempt by a group of men who didn't feel like dying on that particular day.

[Alanus]

I don't know about exactly which side the sword was on for Romans. If we are talking about a "gladius" on the right side isn't it possible to draw with the right hand? This would be much harder to do with a "spatha" of course but I have done so with a "katana" though the curved blade helps. The length of the "gladius" permits an easier draw and could have been worn on the right side and used with the right hand.

Yup. You can draw a long sword from a right-hand scabbard. When I was a member to the auxilliary unit Cohors Pannoniarum, I carried a spatha hung from a baldric on the right side. I had customized the both the sword and scabbard, and I could draw it quicker than a regular Legionary could pull a Indian-made gladius. :roll:

[john m roberts]

If lefties were a bother in a legion, the army may simply have had a policy of not accepting left-handed recruits.

[ArthuroftheBritons]

Huh, I didn't realize that my question caused so much debate... hock: But oh well, now we have something more to debate! :lol:

[Crispvs]

Regarding being on the right side of a testudo, when I am in this position I pass my left (shield) arm across my body so that my shield is to the right. Then, I march with my body turned somewhat to the right. This means that I still have my shield in my left hand and my right hand free to grasp my sword if necessary, even though I am positioned on the right and my shield forms part of the right wall of the testudo. I have never found this to be a problem.

Crispvs

[Astiryu1]

Crispvs,

I don't have much exp. with the testudo but with your stance; How easy is it to ward off attacks? My visualization (not the best method but all I presently have) makes me think that hand to hand combat would be a little dicey plus I would think the position leaves you off balance. I have seen this done before in movies and such. Hence the question. :?

[Crispvs]

Well, I haven't been a combat re-enactor for a number of years now and so have never faced this issue when in a testudo formation. In any case however, the testudo is not so much a field formation as a siege formation, used for getting men close to an enemy fortification without losing too many of them to projectiles shot and thrown from within the fortification before they can get close. I doubt therefore that it would have been at all common for enemy troops to be attacking a testudo hand to hand, so the matter is somewhat academic. I do think however, that soldiers in testudo formation would often have had to reform rapidly into an assault frontage once the enemy fortification had been reached. If each man is already holding his shield in his left hand, then all they need to do is move their left arms and shields back to their normal position and they are instantly in a battle line eight wide and five deep (assuming a century to be divided into two forty man groups where the men on the ends of the ranks have been 'folded in' to form the sides of the formation and then 'unfold to take their places at the ends of the ranks. Alternatively if the testudo was able to open up into a formation of eight files and ten ranks then it could include an entire century).

Sorry to drag this a little OT

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

The simple answer to the question of this thread is a resounding ..... YES!!!!

They used their left hand to beat the enemy to death with their scutum,

Right hand to stab them to death....

[Phaichtos]

The simple answer to the question of this thread is a resounding ..... YES!!!!

They used their left hand to beat the enemy to death with their scutum,

Right hand to stab them to death....

And we have a winner! :lol:

[Crispvs]

"They used their left hand to beat the enemy to death with their scutum, "

Would you like to cite some evidence for this? :wink:

Don't forget that the way you have probably been taught to punch with your shield boss is probably not accurate. In fact it is probably better for breaking your own wrist than the enemy's face. Despite what some will tell you, the primary purpose of a shield boss is to protect the hand of the user, rather than to use as a boxing glove, although i am sure there must have been times when this did happen.

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Well crispus, the only way you will damage your hand is to use your scutum is without padding in the handhole...you could break your
wrist just as easy in a fist fight.
But more likely your knuckles will break first....
And yes the sources talk of punching with the scutum.....can't quote which one offhand as usual though..

And yes I am aware of the primary use of thescutum and boss...

[Adam Oswalt]

What if there weren't any lefties in the Roman Army? This may sound totally ludicrous, but I'm basing this idea on my experience in American Civil War reenacting. The rifle-muskets of the period were not designed to be fired left-handed. Occasionally, we would have lefties join our reenacting unit, and we would have to train them to fire the rifle right-handed or else risk some serious damage to their face from the rifle itself, not to mention that the manner in which we drilled prohibited firing left-handed: it would have ruined the function of the unit as a whole to have an individual firing from the position that made him most comfortable. So if the marching drill of the Roman army wasn't designed for left-handedness (I'm not 100% sure if this was the case; that's for the experts ), it seems reasonable to me to think that there weren't any lefties in the legions, at least not after training. Also, as far as training oneself to use the right instead of the left hand, and vice versa, it's worth mentioning that I successfully trained myself to be ambidexterous with a knife during my time working in a slaughterhouse. At that time, I was more than capable of skinning out a beef with both my left and right hand; interestingly that's the only thing I can do with either hand but also the only thing I've had to do with either hand. Anyways, I hope that this has all made sense

Adam Oswalt