ARMENTARIUM: The Beginners' Guide to Roman Military Equipment

Roman helmets were made of iron or copper alloy (both bronze and brass are known). The main features of the galea are the bowl, a neck guard (to protect from blows to the neck), cheek pieces (to protect the sides of the face), and a brow guard (defending against downward blows to the face). Many helmets had fittings to allow for the attachment of crests. Soldiers often punched or scratched their names and those of their centurions onto their helmets as a mark of ownership.

The Romans used three main types of body armor: mail, scale and segmented. All body armor would have been worn over a padded tunic. Mail armor was normally made of iron rings, each riveted one interlinked with four other punched or welded rings. Scale armor was made of small plates of iron or copper alloy wired to their neighbors horizontally and sewn to a fabric or leather backing. Segmented armor consisted of overlapping curved bands or iron fastened to internal leather straps.

The legionary sword, the gladius, was a double- bladed weapon two feet long and two inches wide, often with a corrugated bone grip. Its primary use was for thrusting at short range. It was carried high on the right hand side so as to be clear of the legs and the shield arm. Ordinary infantrymen and cavalrymen wore their swords on the right side, but centurions wore them on the left. Cavalry used a longer, narrower, sword.

The pilum was a heavy javelin, used by legionaries in battle as a short-range shock weapon. It had a barbed iron head on a long iron shank, fastened to a wooden shaft. There is evidence that suggests weights were added to improve their penetrative capabilities. The head was intended to penetrate both a wooden shield and body armor, the long iron shank passing through the hole made by the head. Once the weapon had struck home, the shank might bend, rendering it impossible to return it.

Roman soldiers carried a shield, called a scutum, on their left hand side. Legionaries had a curved shield while auxiliaries had flat ones, with a variety of shapes (oval, hexagonal, rectangular). Shields were usually made of double or triple thickness plywood. They were edged with copper alloy binding and had a central iron or copper alloy boss covering the horizontal handgrip. Each cohort had different color schemes aid recognition during a battle. The shields also carried the name of the soldier and that of his centurion. On the march, the shield was hung by a strap over the left shoulder.

The military belt was basically a holder for his dagger. It consisted of a number of leather thongs to which were riveted metal plates, and weighted with bronze. It was partly protection for the lower waist and partly ornamental.. The cingulum was rather narrow and decorated with bronze strips, that were sometimes tin-plated, all the way around. Soldiers added these tokens and discs to signify the campaigns they had fought in.

On their feet they wore the elaborate military boot. In fact they were heavy sandals with several thicknesses of sole studded with hollow-headed hobnails. The leather thongs were continued half way up the shin and tied there, and in cold weather could be stuffed with wool or fur. The nailing designs on the sole are arranged very ergonomically and anticipate modern training shoe soles designed to optimize the transfer of weight between the different parts of the foot when placed on the ground.

During war, legions were constantly on the move. Part of their routine was to build temporary camps. It took 3 hours to complete the fortifications around a camp. Roman soldiers had to be tough. They were expected to march 20 miles a day wearing armor. They were also expected to carry their own shield, some food and camping equipment weighing as much as 80 pounds..