Marching with Spears and Pila

[Caballo]

I was looking closely at the Adamklissi metopes (as you do on a rainy Saturday) and I wondered whether we have been holding our spears/ pila wrongly.

This is the classic reenactor hold, here from the ESG at Stoneleigh.


But on the Adamklissi metope, a very different hold is used.


http://www.dirtyredcommie.com/gallery/v ... ewsIndex=1
(you'll have to expand to full size to examine closely - top right hand corner of the screen).

Each of the three soldiers holds the hasta/ pilum at the end of the shaft, with the little finger extended. It is clearly not a sculptors mistake- and would have taken more time to do.

A similar hold (though without the little finger extension) is shown on the Mainz pedestals.



A quick experiment shows that there is a clear advantage to the hold shown on Adamklissi as it allows the hasta/ pilum to be immediately brought into a fighting stance without having to change the hand grip. (Try it- I was suprised at the practical advantage it gives you). It also has the pilum / hasta extending far higher than with the usual reenactor stance.

Your thoughts?

Cheers

Caballo