04-10-2013, 10:37 PM
The next painful question is, like the 'chicken or the egg', which change came first? The spatha or the oval shield? Date-line late 2ndC...
I tend to think that the need was for a longer weapon to reach more mounted foes, just as the hasta was being introduced into frontline service. The cylindical scutum may have proved difficult to use in combination with this longer weapon, used also for slashing as stabbing. An oval shield began to be introduced, and soldiers found they could shift the sword to the left, it made drawing the longer weapon slightly easier. The new shield also made slashing attacks over the top of the oval shield easier than over the top of the rectangular scutum.
This is conjecture, trying to put some of the ideas in this thread together.
I tend to think that the need was for a longer weapon to reach more mounted foes, just as the hasta was being introduced into frontline service. The cylindical scutum may have proved difficult to use in combination with this longer weapon, used also for slashing as stabbing. An oval shield began to be introduced, and soldiers found they could shift the sword to the left, it made drawing the longer weapon slightly easier. The new shield also made slashing attacks over the top of the oval shield easier than over the top of the rectangular scutum.
This is conjecture, trying to put some of the ideas in this thread together.
Paul Elliott
Legions in Crisis
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/17815...d_i=468294
Charting the Third Century military crisis - with a focus on the change in weapons and tactics.
Legions in Crisis
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/17815...d_i=468294
Charting the Third Century military crisis - with a focus on the change in weapons and tactics.
