Did Roman soldiers train with double weight swords?

Etymology The Roman testudo means “tortoise” not “turtle”, even if Rex Harrison, playing Julius Caesar in the 1963 film “Cleopatra”, uses the latter term. To be fair, he was delivering a line from script written by an American, which may sound a little condescending until one realises that in North America “turtle” is used to denote the whole group of creatures. In fact, the order’s name, Testudines , is based on the Latin word testudo  meaning “tortoise” and was coined by

An exploration of how Greek hoplites may have fought with their spears.

As Corporal Jones often said in the long-running BBC sitcom “ Dad’s Army ”: “They don't like it up 'em!” An old soldier, a veteran of the small wars of the British Empire, Jonesy was right, although it must be said that a large quantity of lead balls or bullets to demoralise the enemy always preceded any bayonet charge. From the early 17th- to the early 20th-century bayonets were infantry melee weapons used both defensively and offensively, usually in mass chargers or human w

The spear’s endearing simplicity has seen it adopted by virtually all cultures and societies across the globe. Indeed, the history of the spear is [almost] as old as that of homo sapiens where it has been used as a tool for hunting and/or fishing. Along with the club, knife, and axe, it is one of the earliest and most widespread tools ever developed by early humans. Even after the invention of other hunting weapons such as the bow and sling, the spear continued to be used, ei

This ‘How To:’ series is aimed at the general reader or an individual wishing to portray a Roman legionary or auxiliary as accurately as...

This ‘How To:’ series is aimed at the general reader or an individual wishing to portray a Roman legionary or auxiliary as accurately as...

There is a persistent myth about the function of a sword's fuller that it 'releases the vacuum' when the blade is thrust into a person....

One of the history workshops that Tastes Of History offers for schools (in more normal times) is on the Vikings [1] . In doing so, we...