Romans and Missile Weapons

[Macedon]

And Philoctetes, without whom Troy would not be taken. And others. In the Heroic Age, the bow is used by the heroes in their displays of courage and excellence. They hunt beasts and monsters with it, they kill enemy heroes with it, there are even arranged duels with bows, like the one in which Philoctetes killed Paris. Still, this concept of bow use is different in the classical era, when the Persians are the arch villain in Greek stories and the hoplite array speeds to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat.

[Urselius]

Well, Herakles' major weapon was a club, that's an up close and personal weapon if ever there was. Odysseus was famed for his cunning rather than his purely martial qualities - and he is portrayed in the Illiad fighting with thowing spears like the majority of the combatants.

[Dan Howard]

The Greeks seem to associate the bow with "sneakiness". Whether that sneakiness is seen in a positive or negative light depends on who's side the person is on. If the archer is on their side then he is wily and clever. If he is an enemy then he is a cowardly scoundrel.

[Marcus Audens]

Well, from what I have read of the Roman Army conflicts, it seems that the slingers and archers were used as both advanced light troops, and forward throwing (arrows) in frront of the  advanced troops into the on-coming opponents.   The dress of the slingers was much less and different than the legionaries and their training was foreign.   The archers dress and arms / accouterments were different, as well as, their training also.   I am sure that this would have set them apart from the legionaries in more than one way.  Their religion, culture, language, and tactics would also have set them apart to some extent.   Then too, since I have seen no berthing or shelter arrangements for the archers or slingers, I must either assume that they lodged in tents on campaign.   All of this would have surely have set them apart from the strict rules of the legionaries.  Since they were undoubtedly under the control of an related cultural leader,  I would assume from what I have read of the legionaries, that good results from the slingers and archers in a battle situation, would be the only thing that they would  recognize with admiration!

Marcus Audens, Praefectus Castrorum, Sodalitas Militarium, Byzantine Novum  IBthereforeIBS

I was poking around on the internet and stumbled upon this site, wondering if you folk could answer a question. So from the republic to the early empire, the Romans had few missile weapons,
at most spears and slings. My question is, how greatly did this aversion to missile weapons affect them? Obviously in Parthia this was a huge problem, but I'm having trouble finding sources on other
battles.