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Gladius-Spatha/Contus
#1
When the Roman legionaries began the transition away from the shorter gladius to the longer spatha and contus thrusting spear, were the legionaries still swordsmen or did the contus become the primary weapons for all legionaries? Were there units of spatha armed troops and sperate units of spear armed troops? The transition was most likely over a long period so is it possible that there were a mix-match of units with different weapons with no real standardisation in some forces?
Neil Ritchie
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#2
As far as we can tell (which is not perfect), all troops were trained to use every weapon in their inventory, allowing troops to be used both as heavy infantry as well as light infantry. Ammianus' account of the raid on the Alamannic islands in the Rhine river is a good account for that. Soon afterwards these same soldiers who had raided by night and without armour stood strong as heavy infantry in the battle of Strasbourg.
The main weapon would have been the long hasta (contus), the spatha the secondary.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#3
Ah, Cheers Robert! So the gladius was replaced by the contus as the primary weapon, with the spatha as the secondary.
Neil Ritchie
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#4
I have always thought of the contus as a cavalry weapon. Are we now thinking of the late-Roman infantryman as being the equivalent lf the seventeenth-century pikeman?
Michael King Macdona

And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)
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#5
Terminology. Some describe them as hasta, some as long hasta, some as contus/kontos. I dare suppose that it's all about a long spear, between 1.80 and 3m for infantry, and a longer one for cavalry.

Pikeman? No, these were Always used one-handed in combination with the large scutum as far as I can tell. More comparable to the ancient Greek hoplites 9although of course not the same).
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#6
(02-12-2019, 09:48 AM)Robert Vermaat Wrote: Terminology.

I take your point. After all, Arrian uses 'kontos' for 'pilum'. However, do we have an ancient text describing a late-Roman infantryman being armed with a contus? In the hands of the cavalry, the contus (i.e., 'kontos', literally 'bargepole') seems to have been a two-handed weapon, hence my comment about pikemen.
Michael King Macdona

And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)
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#7
the Strategicon of Mauricius gives, once more, some good answers. book 12B 20: [...] scutatii should carry medium sized scuta, [they carry or use] contarium (κονθαριοις) not contus, which is used by cavalry. [...]
javelins were now called Veruta and were of smaller size.
The full translation is given in my second book about east Roman warfare, including the original greek terms.

The Emperor occasionally uses the word contus in the chapter (or book) about infantry as well. But he does not seem to have taken it so seriously here. Whenever he writes strictly technical, the word contarius is used.
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#8
(02-12-2019, 11:49 AM)Renatus wrote: Wrote: I take your point. After all, Arrian uses 'kontos' for 'pilum'. However, do we have an ancient text describing a late-Roman infantryman being armed with a contus? In the hands of the cavalry, the contus (i.e., 'kontos', literally 'bargepole') seems to have been a two-handed weapon, hence my comment about pikemen.

Indeed he (Arrian) does. The slangy Greeks used 'kontos'/bargepole or punting pole, to describe the 12 ft lance, generally used two-handed and originating with Sarmatians and the like. Arrian writing in Greek was looking for a translation of 'pilum'.
He uses the verb akontizw, and it is derived from the noun akwn, "javelin" (itself from ake_ "point". The original meaning of the verb akontizw is "to throw a javelin at" - "javelinize", if you will (our -ize/ise ending in English comes from the same Greek ending -izw), and first appears in Homer. Later, it takes on a wider range of meanings, including throwing more generally.'

Thus Arrian's 'kontos' means, translated freely : "a shafted thrown weapon", a fair translation of 'pilum'.

BTW this matter was resolved here on RAT more than ten years ago......!
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)

"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
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