Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > A Question about arms avalibility in Rome at 500bc. Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
A Conrad





Joined: 10 Nov 2004

Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 7:49 am    Post subject: A Question about arms avalibility in Rome at 500bc.         Reply with quote

Hi all,

I am wondering about what weapons would be avaliable in Rome at around 500bc (Start of the Republic).

What types of weapons?

What quality/matarial?

Same with Armor...

Many many thanks!

Drew
View user's profile Send private message
Sean Flynt




Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Likes: 10 pages
Reading list: 13 books

Spotlight topics: 7
Posts: 5,981

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 1:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hey, Drew. I can't answer your question, but I wonder if you've seen this book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1855325136/re...eader-page

The Men-At-Arms books are inexpensive and generally pretty good. This one sounds like it's right up your alley (scroll through the pages to read the back cover blurb). It covers from the founding of Rome through the 3rd c. BC.

Maybe some of the "ancient" folks around here will chime in.

-Sean

Author of the Little Hammer novel

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Hammer-Sean-Flynt/dp/B08XN7HZ82/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=little+hammer+book&qid=1627482034&sr=8-1
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Allan Senefelder
Industry Professional



Location: Upstate NY
Joined: 18 Oct 2003

Posts: 1,563

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 3:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Pick up a copy of Greece And Rome At War by Peter Connolly (ISBN 1-85367-303-X). Peter is a very well respected schollar in the area of ancient warfare . The book is heavilly illustrated and covers Rome from pre-Republic to its collapse
both on land and naval.
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
David Wilson




Location: In a van down by the river
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

Posts: 802

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 5:02 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I agree, search for Peter Connolly's Greece and Rome at War, which has a large section devoted to Early Roman military tech. Basically, at this time, there would have been a distinct Hellenic influence, at least among the upper classes, while the lesser ranks would be using arms more in line with native Italian cultures. What kind of equipment you carried depended upon your wealth, the military reforms which gave Rome a true professional army came much later as well as much of the arms considered typically Roman (ie, the gladius, lorica segmentata, Gallic-type helmets, and so forth)
David K. Wilson, Jr.
Laird of Glencoe

Now available on Amazon: Franklin Posner's "Suburban Vampire: A Tale of the Human Condition -- With Vampires" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N7Y591
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
A Conrad





Joined: 10 Nov 2004

Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 5:08 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Sweet! Thank you thank you. I just ordered Men at arms, and I will look for the other one soon!

Does anyone know off the top of their head...

I know that the Iron age was well underway at this point. But had steel (Or the process of making steel) made an appearance? If not in Rome, in Spain, or other nearby areas?

At this point I am operating under the impression that the following was avaliable:
Bows: Straight and Compound Recurve
Spears
Pikes
Staffs
Swords - Various types, but mostly "Short" varities.
Axes
Sling
Daggers
Clubs
Trident

Iron for the most part, but not steel yet...

Armor being mostly Boiled leather, banded, splint, and some chain, depending on wealth.

Thanks again for the help!

Drew
View user's profile Send private message
Sam Barris




Location: San Diego, California
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Likes: 4 pages

Posts: 630

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 6:41 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

500 BC. Sometime between when the Greeks sent Xerxes' army back to where it came from and when Alexander went on the warpath. The books are still your best bet, but I can tell you that the Iron Age was still in full swing. Steel wouldn't make an apearance for several centuries.

Standard Roman arms included the gladius, spatha, pilum, vertum, scutum, lorica segmentata, lorica hamata, lorica squamata and others. However, 500 BC is before Rome really became the power in the Mediterranean. I did find a few articles on the subject though.

http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/Rome-weapons-armor.htm
http://www.roman-empire.net/army/army.html
http://militaryhistory.about.com/cs/theromans/
http://www.unrv.com/military/roman-republican-legion.php

Hope they help.

Pax,
Sam Barris

"Any nation that draws too great a distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools." —Thucydides
View user's profile Send private message Yahoo Messenger
Kirk Lee Spencer




Location: Texas
Joined: 24 Oct 2003

Spotlight topics: 6
Posts: 820

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 7:48 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hey Drew...

I have always seen Romulus carrying an impressive bronze antenna sword of some sort. So a few centuries later maybe an antenna sword with a cast bronze hilt and a forged iron leaf blade.

ks

Two swords
Lit in Eden’s flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
View user's profile Send private message
Patrick Kelly




Location: Wichita, Kansas
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Reading list: 42 books

Spotlight topics: 2
Posts: 5,739

PostPosted: Wed 10 Nov, 2004 10:51 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have the aforementioned books and highly recommend them.

Another good one is Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry, University of Oklahoma Press.

"In valor there is hope.".................. Tacitus
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > A Question about arms avalibility in Rome at 500bc.
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum