Quote:
Originally Posted by badcat
Just out of curiousity, what is your source for the statement that the gladius was used primarily as a slashing weapon at Cynocephales?
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According to Polybus, in "General History of the roman Republic", about the battle of Cynoscephales (chapter 18 to 33), (I'm translating my french translation to english, so some words may be different to one direct latin to english text":
"Each roman legionnaire also uses only 3 feet of terrain; but to be able to both cover themselves with their shields and give cutting strike, they need some space to be given to them, having between them, wether on the side or front to back, at least 3 feet of free space if they want to be able to move freely."
So, the order of battle is made to allow cutting strikes.
After Marius, the rule is to use thrusting strikes to provoke bleeding wounds, but this is 100 years later (Cynoscephales is -197, marius is around -100).
Runequestement votre,
Kloster