Check Out my video on Republican Roman Infantry: ruclips.net/video/APuh6rokd_w/видео.html Additional info/and sources Rounded metric Conversion for units mentioned: Typical March: 20-30 miles(32-48 km) in a day Training march distance and load: 22 miles = 35 km 45 pounds=20 kg Full campaign max carried load per Legionary: 65-100 LBS = 27-45 kgs One thing I wrote in the script, recorded and edited out by accident was that... when a Roman Legionary was dishonorably discharged (thrown out of the legion for bad behavior) his belt was confiscated by the legion which did not want him to be associated with the Roman State Sources: Roman Military clothing by Graham Sumner Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connolly Roman Legionary by Ross Cowan The Legionary by Peter Connolly The Gladius (The Roman short sword) by MC Bishop Warfare in the classical world by John Warry Caesar's Legion's by Sekunda,Northwood and Simkins Misspelled Inches as inces and Cohort as Chohort
Just like the ferdinand marcos video can you make a video talking about Francisco Franco caudillo of spain and how do the spanish people Think of him is he an evil fascist dictator or an national hero
for those wondering what the pilum (javelin thing) was actually for: the Romans would throw these right before the initial charge in hopes that they would pierce a shield and bend, essentially making the shield obsolete by making it much heavier and clunkier. the shield user would have a very difficult time removing the pilum from their shield as they're being engulfed by thousands of pilums and charged by the Roman legion. think of the pilum as the ultimate anti-shield projectile.
It was genius. The weight and balance of it make it unbelievably easy to throw with a surprising degree of accuracy. The slender shaft also made sure it could pierce whatever it was thrown at.
.....didnt he say the same thing in the video? why are you restating it? also, isnt it bending in shields not necessarily its purpose? isnt that more of a modern convention? most of the times it was mentioned was as an oddity rather than that being its specific goal.
@@midshipman8654 nah the romans loved the pilum for it bending They even gave it one wooden bolt next to a metal one that would break on impact to ensure that the pole kept stuck, but could not be thrown back if removed from the shield
If I recall correctly ancient battles were relatively "clean", partially for that reason. Most people don't want to kill but I'd guess it's easier to throw a grenade into a trench than to watch how your axe just went through someones head. Fortunately I have no warfare experience so it's just my assumption of course.
@@dew8368 When I say clean I'm referring to number of casualties and the overall circumstances. Most sources I've read say that during most battles, casualties were actually fairly low with the exceptions of battles like Cannae or Teutoburg Forest. They also didn't have to deal with stuff like toxic gas, minefields or white phosphorus yet.
gophop But walking was also a bit more important back then so there was more emphasis put on it in the training. Today soldiers can get transported by trucks, planes and trains. Back then marching was most of the time the only possibility, if you couldn’t go by boat.
gophop I looked it up and Roman soldiers carried somewhere between 30 and 45kg of equipment. But I sadly don’t know how much the average Marine carries.
I fell in love with the Roman military when as a 7 year old I found an illustrated book on Roman legionaries. Your drawings are excellent and the technical content is extremely accurate and well researched just a really impressive presentation, made me feel like a 7 year old again! Thank you.
I fell in love with the Roman military when I played a game the had them or maybe it was a documentary as a child I saw their armour and thought it looked cool I still do think it looks badass today but have moved on to admire the standard WW2 Wehrmacht uniform
Thanks Jason :) I first discovered Rome at a similar age in the public library history section, seeing peter Connolly books; or watching movies Quo Vadis, the Robe, Ben Hur
@@NX74205 "His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono; imperium sine fine dedi." While the actual political boundaries are not written in Latin words anymore, they are written in our culture of the West. And in that, the Romans still have an "Empire without end".
@theplayboymaster "degenerates" FTFY. And the proper star has 5-points. Not 6. People always get that wrong, or turn the bloody thing upside down. What's a heathen to do, I ask you?
I'd like to point out that it is always very important to wear padding underneath any kind of body armor. A padded jacket, named a "subarmalis" was worn under any of the armor types to absorb concussion. Optionally, Pteriges could be attached to the subarmalis.
Mongols please. The Mongols brought with them their own horses. Each Mongol was expected to bring 4 or 5 horses that they can swap when needed. They also carried the warrior's gear and tent. The Mongols having a lot of horses gave them logistical advantages that outsiders didn't even imagine. The mongols could survive marching with limited supplies by slitting a wound in one of their horse's throat and drink the horse blood for nourishment and letting it heal once done -- sort of like a Gatorade in times of famine.
@@bobofthestorm that’s why their mobility is insane. They travel hundreds of kilometres a day just with 4 horses. When the Chinese fought against the horse nomads it was hard to use muskets or guns because it was hard to aim at their mobility
Great video. Though a few things were left out. There was a layer between the Tunic and the Armor known as the "Subarmalis" It was a padded vest similar to later Gambesons. It cushioned the armor and softened blows, an almost essential piece of kit for any armor. It would be uncomfortable to wear metal armor on top of just clothing without any padding layer. "Pteruges" (the strips you see on the waist and shoulders) could also be attached to the Subarmalis to provide some limb protection. Additionally, Greaves would have been another piece of optional armor. Officers like Centurions and Cavalry soldiers would have worn Greaves the most but, like the Manica and Pugio, it was an optional piece that Legionaries could have purchased themselves.
Being a soldier in the Imperial Roman Army back then must've been such an absolute position of pride. Like knowing that you are getting issued the absolute best equipment aviable and you are going to fight with other people who all have this good of equipment.
10:55 The Dacian falx was so deadly that the Romans had to update their helmets to be able to sustain a direct impact. It was also able to cut through shields and disarm the Romans breaking the shield wall, leaving them exposed.
I have considered myself to be a lifelong student of the legions. I have learned more about the specifics here than I care to say. So Know this: Your research and work embody value, It lightens the path of understanding and, is entirely worthwhile and you have fellows like me who thank you for doing it. Bravo and well done young sir!!!!
Wow, "manica" means sleeve in Romanian language. Most probably it was widely used by the Romans when conquering Dacia, if the word remained in use 2000 years later.
No, it simply means sleeve in Italian. The Romanian state of the early 19th century started a "latinization" programme of education and literature which artificially replaced slavic words with direct Italian and French borrowings, to make the language more latin and less slavic. That's when italian words like this one entered the modern Romanian language, not 2000 years ago. Before the Latinization reforms of the 19th century Latin words in Romanian were a minority.
@@DSB_SF you've read too much Hungarian propaganda. The slavic word for sleeve is "rukav". The fact that Romanian language is a Latin language it's undeniable. There are too many basic words from Latin (words like: horse=cal, house=casa, food=mancare, water=apa etc). Such basic words are almost impossible to be replaced with new words. The French words that you were referring to are neologisms. In the 19th century most of the young aristocrats from Romania were studying in France. It is the same people who later on changed the alphabet (from chirilic to latin) and through their writings a lot of French words started being used in Romanian as well. This process was natural and is still happens, but this time with English words.
It means "sleeve" in latin but we actually dont know how Romans themselves called it.And they used it already prior Dacia and in very many different wars across centuries and at completely different places too.
Also for the cavilary charges, thats why they didnt use much of their own since they could take care of it quickly i assume. Horse hit with one of those would surely send it other way
i love your videos Epimetheus, but when this video popped out im my notifications i got extra excited because i always thought of their clothing and their equipment great video! as usual
Legionary: screw off pleb! Pleb: awe big man in the tin can gonna cry? Legionary: *sigh* *shatters pleb's shin with spikey boot* Pleb: it's a prank bro! Owowow
@@SimoLInk1698 What's more, 40s & 50s Plebs, big-city, backstreet gang bangers, might have been the most recent fighters to confront their opponents -- eye to eye & face to face -- like their Legionary predecessors, until pistols became cheap & available...
Dude this art is book quality illustrations! I honestly thought you knicked this from one of those old military history books. Keep up the great work dude!
This was a great video and explained a complex subject quite well. We are reminded that the legionary had excellent training, excellent equipment and benefited from solid logistics.
Little tip: although I'm personally used to the imperial system, you should also add the information with the metric system, so the rest of the world can understand your video better :) good video tho, keep them coming!!!
Ironic and sad that Germanicus was seen as an absolute rock star in rome, and came close to being the next emperor,the golden age may have started early with him on the throne but instead his son Caligula did
You say that black was viewed as unlucky by some romans, I’m interested in your source for this. Not that I doubt your claim, but I know that in wall paintings, particularly of the third pompeian type, black was an expensive and thus desirable color for many of the painted stucco walls in high/middle class villas and homes. Good video as always!
More properly said-Romans had basically the very same associations with black color as we do modernly(at least in western world) and there is a lot of episodes preserved in their text to make it clear for us they also see it as symbolic of death therefore clothing in that color could be(and sometimes really was)considered as a bad omen.But saying that it does not mean,of course,that they had no use of black or only understand it in negative associations-same as we are not.
I think most of the stuff he said about color is not completly correct. for example the color blue was surley not liked by romans and greek, they didnt even have a name for it. It was considred to be the color of the barbarian eyes. And in general color were expensive back than. More probably the dress were not colored.
Have you considered doing commissions or putting your talent with illustration into more use? I'm sure you could make decent money by illustrating certain things from history for other people.
Very good video! Romans preferred the tunica because they thought that pants were barbaric, but they were smart enough to put pants to use north of the Alps, where the climate was much colder. According to Caesar (I believe), he states that the thrown pila would stick together the overlapping shields of enemies, too - questionable though that it happened often enough. It did not only prevent that the javelin could be thrown back, but also makes the enemy's shield heavier and more clumsy to use. One main point certainly is that Romans - maybe apart from Spartans, or maybe even Athenian citizens (who still were farmers... because that was proper and all) - were the only real professional soldiers that received professional training and did nothing but being soldiers. That was a huge advantage and made a legionnaire very capable.
The Romans were far from the first people to have a standing, professional army. In fact, they even fought standing, professional armies several times even before they themselves had transitioned from citizen soldiers to professional soldiers.
@Sam Bacon No sweat. Pretty much all historical concepts were not constants, but ever-changing and dependend on many factors. Especially with citizen-soldiers; a Spartan would have had quite a different idea to that, as would have Athenians. We call all of them citizens, but they vastly differ in concept and also it changed over time - well, Spartans changed not that much though which is why they phased themselves out. Roman citizenship was exceptionally inclusive; no one asked where one was from, only: How much honor did you accumulate.
@Sam Bacon What a coincidence, I am a historian, though not in any way specialized in ancient times. I very much appreciate channels like this one and conversations like this, they are both rare and precious. I'm based in Germany, in which west of the Rhine we have tons of Roman remnants, many cities were founded by Romans here, and their cultural influence is a very big deal.
The only thing I would dispute here is the 'function' of the pilum. Stating that its purpose was to bend after penetration is a rather old-school interpretation (based on a misunderstanding of a quote from Caesar). That long shank is there to enable the head to first punch through a shield and then into the bearer behind. Pila generally do not bend under their own weight, as repeated experiments show.
Hello Mr.Bishop(Mr.Bishop is one on the most world wide respected scholars on Roman army equipment in case you dont know it).I ve read your book on Pila and most of others too.With the newest title on Spatha I had few reservations to illustration of Portus Adurni battle though.
Awesome video and drawings. I really liked how you introduced each piece of equipment one at a time in a logical manner as if the legionaries was kitting up for a march. That made it easy to understand and take in
Very cool/informative video. I greatly liked your drawings/animations. I thought your "I am Batman" gruff whisper voice was strange and unnecessary, but >shrug< I guess it wasn't that bad. Overall, thumbs-up. Thanks for sharing.
Great video as always! Also even though the leginary is so iconic most of the operations of the Roman army were made by auxiliary troops and even on the battlefield most of the soldiers were auxiliaries because they were specialized in tasks that the Roman leginaries couldn't do or they didn't wanted to do. The number of auxiliaries was big especially after Augustus and they were also used because if they done their service they had a chance to become Roman citizens. The difference in the late empire is that because of Emperor Caracalla who extended the citizenship to everyone who lived in the empire they had a lack of auxiliaries because the only reason they served in the army in the first place was to gain citizenship and the Romans were forced to train their own specialized troops or look for outside the borders because obviously you can't fight wars just with heavy infantry, light and medium troops are also as or even more vital than the heavy ones. Also in terms of equipment considering how ancient warfare looked the Roman army wasn't really that advanced (most of the equipment being inspired by the Celtic one) but their advantage was a more rationalized type of warfare and the economy to mass-produce that equipment and even the Roman army suffered a lot of humiliating defeats even before the 3rd century and the late empire. So in short the Roman army always used a lot of mercenaries but most people think that they used them in the late empire because they see what happened to the west which feel primarily because of lack of resources and population to back up their military and economy compared to the East. Also fun fact even though the lorica segmentata is so popular during some operations the legionaries would've switched to lorica hamata.
Superb video, just what I was looking for, although I would also like to know a bit more about three areas: 1. Underwear and the general maintenance of all their gear. Every metal part must have had underwear between. 2. The shields must have been very heavy, so when marching from place to place, would they have worn them on their backs? 3. I'm assuming that the tunics would have ended up being pink rather than red, from washing or just being rained on and U/V from the sun. (All red dyes suffer from fading in the sun)
Something about this video makes my cat insane. It may be the black specks on the background. She jumped a good four feet when I tried to break her focus on the screen. :) Maybe she just likes history like I do. Great video, btw.
It would be far more correct to use the term "Iberian" rather than "Spanish" since you are describing a location rather than providing the direct source of inspiration for the sword/dagger design. Spanish means nothing relative to this time period :p. Great vid though, loved it
You are correct and Iberian would worked well.Romans are known to call it as Hispanic sword(gladius hispaniensis and also in alternative shape of the word "hispanicus".
Yes.....the Romans called Spain Iberia after the Iberian peninsula. They also had other names for the province. Spain has almost as many Roman ruins as Italy because Spain was an important province and had many loyal soldiers and politicians working in and for Rome.
When you see the extreme effort Rome put into its military. You can understand the advantages they had(especially latebc- 1st century ad.) Over their adversaries. After they defeated the remnants of Alexander's Generals of the Selucids empire. And held off Pyrus of epirus. And Augustus made peace with the Parthians. They would be rolling up small federated tribes like clockwork for decades. But nothing was as bloody and brutal as a Roman civil war. Roman legions were like gigantic chainsaws tearing into each other. Septimus Severus wars of consolidation were among the largest and bloodiest. But there were plenty. " It is good war is so costly,else we would grow to fond of it." Gen. Robert E. Lee.
@ 3:58 Oh okay, I thought the belt was strictly for groin protection, but I knew just by looking at it that it wasn't going to protect much, lol. I can imagine tons of jingling of the belts would certainly inspire fear.
I love that you do all your own drawings on these. You have a distinctive style that makes your videos stand out from other channels. Really speaks to your passion and commitment. Thanks, and keep it up!
Thanks for taking the time and care to do this! It'd be great to see a video of how these legionaries and their equipment evolved into the era of Diocletian and Constantine.
This is about the most informative video on the subject that I've seen. I've wondered about how they made stuff back then. And the scarf looks like it could be the ancestor of the necktie.
It had a lot of time to evolve constantly changing that’s why Rome was always the best fighters they where not afraid to change to suit changing situations
I like this format. It fleshes out not only you other videos with back story information but it also ties into many other ancient writings and explains some of what was written. An example would be Roman soldiers who were found to be Christians would discard their belts. Now I see this is a rejection of the Empire not merely resigning from the service.
They were found to be Christians and discharged from the army. The belt was the uniform. The Christians themselves weren't rejecting the army or empire. They were forced out. This happened under Diocletian, and not everywhere.
Dude i actually own a 1st-2nd century AD roman ring pommeled gladious. Its one of my favorite artifact. The ring pommel makes it really interesting because it suggest it should of come from a style around Thrace but the only 2 in museums were both found in the UK! One is in the British museum.
Gladius(...which merely means "sword").Ring pommel swords were pretty polular in the Roman army since ca.half of the 2nd century to half of the 3rd and they are known from several sites not just two.Romans almost certainly adopted it from Sarmatian tribes who typically use such swords very long before Romans.
Check Out my video on Republican Roman Infantry:
ruclips.net/video/APuh6rokd_w/видео.html
Additional info/and sources
Rounded metric Conversion for units mentioned:
Typical March: 20-30 miles(32-48 km) in a day
Training march distance and load: 22 miles = 35 km 45 pounds=20 kg
Full campaign max carried load per Legionary: 65-100 LBS = 27-45 kgs
One thing I wrote in the script, recorded and edited out by accident was that... when a Roman Legionary was dishonorably discharged (thrown out of the legion for bad behavior) his belt was confiscated by the legion which did not want him to be associated with the Roman State
Sources:
Roman Military clothing by Graham Sumner
Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connolly
Roman Legionary by Ross Cowan
The Legionary by Peter Connolly
The Gladius (The Roman short sword) by MC Bishop
Warfare in the classical world by John Warry
Caesar's Legion's by Sekunda,Northwood and Simkins
Misspelled Inches as inces and Cohort as Chohort
I LOVE THAT YOU PUT YOUR SOURCES, keep up the good work
seriously bro when you give mesurements, write km and kg in a corner or something. Thumbs down have been given for less
Hi please with all my heart I would wish you would do a history about Syria, ancient Syria especially. Please!!!
Please do a video on south indian rulers...
Especially on chera chola pandyas...
Just like the ferdinand marcos video can you make a video talking about Francisco Franco caudillo of spain and how do the spanish people Think of him is he an evil fascist dictator or an national hero
It's officially confirmed, the soldiers of the most elite, powerful and lethal army of the ancient world... wore socks and sandals.
army of white suburban dads.
@@SamLemont 😂😂😂
Han Dynasty soldiers: HOLD MY WHISKEY......
Like those Chinese tourist...
The most is a stretch
Socks and sandals? The Romans were ahead of their time.
lol
The HRE saw themselves as rightful heirs of the roman empire, because most germans adopted socks & sandals
I wear slides and socks everyday
Nothing is worse than a Roman soldier with stinky feet. Socks helped prevent that :D
so ahead they didn't bother to invent shoes
for those wondering what the pilum (javelin thing) was actually for:
the Romans would throw these right before the initial charge in hopes that they would pierce a shield and bend, essentially making the shield obsolete by making it much heavier and clunkier. the shield user would have a very difficult time removing the pilum from their shield as they're being engulfed by thousands of pilums and charged by the Roman legion. think of the pilum as the ultimate anti-shield projectile.
It was genius. The weight and balance of it make it unbelievably easy to throw with a surprising degree of accuracy. The slender shaft also made sure it could pierce whatever it was thrown at.
And the fact that it becomes bent after piercing the shield makes it even better.
.....didnt he say the same thing in the video? why are you restating it?
also, isnt it bending in shields not necessarily its purpose? isnt that more of a modern convention? most of the times it was mentioned was as an oddity rather than that being its specific goal.
Guys go check out scholagladitoria for the reason of the pilii
@@midshipman8654 nah the romans loved the pilum for it bending
They even gave it one wooden bolt next to a metal one that would break on impact to ensure that the pole kept stuck, but could not be thrown back if removed from the shield
War back then had to be insane. You had face your opponent eye to eye and hack/stab at them. Absolutely gruesome
If I recall correctly ancient battles were relatively "clean", partially for that reason. Most people don't want to kill but I'd guess it's easier to throw a grenade into a trench than to watch how your axe just went through someones head. Fortunately I have no warfare experience so it's just my assumption of course.
In my country people are murdered every day for no reason, people can reach a point where killing is not an issue.
Not to mention fighting right after marching for miles on end. Way way more intense than modern warfare.
@@vvaldbeere not true. You telling me people will fight "clean" when they are surrounded with no means of escaping?
@@dew8368 When I say clean I'm referring to number of casualties and the overall circumstances. Most sources I've read say that during most battles, casualties were actually fairly low with the exceptions of battles like Cannae or Teutoburg Forest. They also didn't have to deal with stuff like toxic gas, minefields or white phosphorus yet.
20 to 30 miles a day. And I bitched about 15 miles when I was in the Marines.
you carried more gear
gophop But walking was also a bit more important back then so there was more emphasis put on it in the training. Today soldiers can get transported by trucks, planes and trains. Back then marching was most of the time the only possibility, if you couldn’t go by boat.
gophop I looked it up and Roman soldiers carried somewhere between 30 and 45kg of equipment. But I sadly don’t know how much the average Marine carries.
@@pilum3705 I think around 60 kg
arab guy speaks arab I am not sure but that sounds like a bit too much. I can hardly imagine them fighting with 60kg on their back.
Wearing sandals instead of regular shoes was a good idea to prevent sweating and infections
Should have been standard issue for our troops in Vietnam and Japan.
WWI would had been very different if they took that into account
@@ChefofWar33
The thing is though you can also get your feet cut to shit plus the jungle is full of other infections
isnt sweating good?
when Napoleon would have used that he could have probably survived
"Roman marines" sound like the kind of people who could wrestle a bear dead
The Ultramarines from 40k draw inspiration from roman legion aesthetics
@@lawindacera7219 You mean they directly copied them. That damn franchise has 0 originality.
@@rommdan2716 there's a clearly inspiration, but they're far from being direct copies.
@@rommdan2716 dude look at some of the hundreds of books of lore and world building that would beg to differ
@@TempName525 Oh I have look at them, they just confirm mi hate for the franchise lack of originality.
I fell in love with the Roman military when as a 7 year old I found an illustrated book on Roman legionaries. Your drawings are excellent and the technical content is extremely accurate and well researched just a really impressive presentation, made me feel like a 7 year old again! Thank you.
awwwwwwwww
so romantic
Rome 🤤
I fell in love with the Roman military when I played a game the had them or maybe it was a documentary as a child I saw their armour and thought it looked cool I still do think it looks badass today but have moved on to admire the standard WW2 Wehrmacht uniform
Thanks Jason :)
I first discovered Rome at a similar age in the public library history section, seeing peter Connolly books; or watching movies Quo Vadis, the Robe, Ben Hur
"We won't go quietly. The Legion could count on that"
"Degenarates like you belong on the cross."
@@NX74205 "His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;
imperium sine fine dedi."
While the actual political boundaries are not written in Latin words anymore, they are written in our culture of the West. And in that, the Romans still have an "Empire without end".
@theplayboymaster "degenerates"
FTFY. And the proper star has 5-points. Not 6. People always get that wrong, or turn the bloody thing upside down. What's a heathen to do, I ask you?
Patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter
@the apocryphite fallout new vegas
Imagine all soldiers just show up wearing purple like "I don't care how much it costs, we're all the emperor now."
That would be the Byzantines
There wouldnt be enough purple, not even for a century, probably
*Uhh... Guess I'm in charge now*
Got that drip.
It's the medieval version of Sammy picking the purple lightsaber
Real shit do you do all the drawings yourself
Cuz that's crazy man
I do :)
Epimetheus well, your amazing.
@@EpimetheusHistory You draw very good
for real? i didnt know!
@@EpimetheusHistory You draw well😃👍
Your art style has gotten so good! You're doing a great job, and thanks for putting in so much effort into these cool, informative videos!
Thank you glad you like it :)
What is the legionnaire’s most powerful weapon? His thighs.
The thiccness is enough to intimidate
@@RobGcraft they took their thick thighs seriously
WITNESS THE THICKNESS !!!!!
This is a heroic victory, worthy of Roman legs!
damn, thicc thighs really do save lives... well, and take them
I'd like to point out that it is always very important to wear padding underneath any kind of body armor. A padded jacket, named a "subarmalis" was worn under any of the armor types to absorb concussion. Optionally, Pteriges could be attached to the subarmalis.
Would love videos like this on other empires like the assyrians, or another one on the late romans
I believe that he has made a video like that on both late romans and dark to golden age byzantium
Mongols please.
The Mongols brought with them their own horses. Each Mongol was expected to bring 4 or 5 horses that they can swap when needed. They also carried the warrior's gear and tent. The Mongols having a lot of horses gave them logistical advantages that outsiders didn't even imagine. The mongols could survive marching with limited supplies by slitting a wound in one of their horse's throat and drink the horse blood for nourishment and letting it heal once done -- sort of like a Gatorade in times of famine.
John Coelho agreed
@@bobofthestorm that’s why their mobility is insane. They travel hundreds of kilometres a day just with 4 horses. When the Chinese fought against the horse nomads it was hard to use muskets or guns because it was hard to aim at their mobility
Great video. Though a few things were left out.
There was a layer between the Tunic and the Armor known as the "Subarmalis" It was a padded vest similar to later Gambesons. It cushioned the armor and softened blows, an almost essential piece of kit for any armor. It would be uncomfortable to wear metal armor on top of just clothing without any padding layer. "Pteruges" (the strips you see on the waist and shoulders) could also be attached to the Subarmalis to provide some limb protection.
Additionally, Greaves would have been another piece of optional armor. Officers like Centurions and Cavalry soldiers would have worn Greaves the most but, like the Manica and Pugio, it was an optional piece that Legionaries could have purchased themselves.
Subarmalis,oppure thoromacus
They also used to wear a kinda of felt cap under their helmets
Lived the video, Well done!
Thanks man! Happy to see the Metatron spreading his wings here!
How are you not verified
I lived the video as well
Great now quit teaching Jesuit garbage historical revisionism.
@@joshportie The hell are talking about and who are talking too? These guys are both great.
Being a soldier in the Imperial Roman Army back then must've been such an absolute position of pride.
Like knowing that you are getting issued the absolute best equipment aviable and you are going to fight with other people who all have this good of equipment.
Yeah untill civil wars started and they faced same stuff against them.
@@plazmica0323 and these civil wars are erupting in every next day
@@plazmica0323 There was a lot of desertion during those times, iirc.
Until someone in your group makes a mistake and you have to beat your friend to death. Check out how Legionaries lived.
@@codycampbell3562 you mean like decimation?
10:55 The Dacian falx was so deadly that the Romans had to update their helmets to be able to sustain a direct impact. It was also able to cut through shields and disarm the Romans breaking the shield wall, leaving them exposed.
I have considered myself to be a lifelong student of the legions. I have learned more about the specifics here than I care to say. So Know this: Your research and work embody value, It lightens the path of understanding and, is entirely worthwhile and you have fellows like me who thank you for doing it. Bravo and well done young sir!!!!
I wonder if 2000 years from now people will be watching how soldiers of today dress on their version of youtube
Excellent explanation of Roman military equipment.
Wow, "manica" means sleeve in Romanian language. Most probably it was widely used by the Romans when conquering Dacia, if the word remained in use 2000 years later.
It means "sleeve" in Italian too.
No, it simply means sleeve in Italian. The Romanian state of the early 19th century started a "latinization" programme of education and literature which artificially replaced slavic words with direct Italian and French borrowings, to make the language more latin and less slavic. That's when italian words like this one entered the modern Romanian language, not 2000 years ago. Before the Latinization reforms of the 19th century Latin words in Romanian were a minority.
@@DSB_SF you've read too much Hungarian propaganda.
The slavic word for sleeve is "rukav". The fact that Romanian language is a Latin language it's undeniable. There are too many basic words from Latin (words like: horse=cal, house=casa, food=mancare, water=apa etc). Such basic words are almost impossible to be replaced with new words.
The French words that you were referring to are neologisms.
In the 19th century most of the young aristocrats from Romania were studying in France. It is the same people who later on changed the alphabet (from chirilic to latin) and through their writings a lot of French words started being used in Romanian as well. This process was natural and is still happens, but this time with English words.
It means "sleeve" in latin but we actually dont know how Romans themselves called it.And they used it already prior Dacia and in very many different wars across centuries and at completely different places too.
Sleeve in romanian is mânecă
The pilum would penetrate the shields of enemy soldiers and get stuck, causing the shields to become too heavy for defence.
and it was designed to be near impossible to get back out again. The enemy would usually be forced to discard the shield or leave the fight.
That's if the target wasn't wounded or killed by the extremely deep penetration.
The wooden staff would bend with the iron shaft on impact , meaning it could not be reused and thrown back at the enemy.....
Also for the cavilary charges, thats why they didnt use much of their own since they could take care of it quickly i assume.
Horse hit with one of those would surely send it other way
@@alanhutchins5916 no
The little Caligula is terrifying looking
Body of a child, head of an adult.
He was terrifying to those he had put to death.
i love your videos Epimetheus, but when this video popped out im my notifications i got extra excited because i always thought of their clothing and their equipment
great video! as usual
Dude this Is very professionally done. The illustrations are insane. Good job
Legionary: screw off pleb!
Pleb: awe big man in the tin can gonna cry?
Legionary: *sigh* *shatters pleb's shin with spikey boot*
Pleb: it's a prank bro! Owowow
Jokes aside, I think that the great majority of the soldiers were plebs, at least according to the Roman meaning of the word.
i know right ikr
back to deviantart cringelord
@@SimoLInk1698 What's more, 40s & 50s Plebs, big-city, backstreet gang bangers, might have been the most recent fighters to confront their opponents -- eye to eye & face to face -- like their Legionary predecessors, until pistols became cheap & available...
I like that they built their roads straight.
Legionaries on the thumbnail are red green and blue:
Epimethius knows about Rome Total War Confirmed
Hoping for a late Roman version of this because there’s a lot more people confused about them
Yeah, late roman army is way underrated. Love their armor.
I think this is the most detailed video about the topic I ever watched. Good work there, you are an amazing RUclips historian!
Thanks Toshihiro!
Wow, the Romans really designed their shoes well
Well i imagine they realy put in thought in making good shoes with all the marching they did. They did more marching than fighting thats for sure.
Romans did everything well
@@blankblank5409 or things they did good survived pass milenias for us to see now while bad ones dissapeared
@@plazmica0323 all armies do more marching than fighting
they did occasionally slide a bit on hard stone though, but its better than smooth leather or barefoot on wet grass or hills though.
Dude this art is book quality illustrations! I honestly thought you knicked this from one of those old military history books. Keep up the great work dude!
You forgot to include night vision goggles. 😁 Just kidding.
... As always, great artwork illustrations.
Warring after dark is offensive to the gods
It would been great if you did a follow up on the late roman or Byzantine infantryman!
@Hoàng Nguyên They relied mostly on mercenaries in like the last two centuries! Previously they had a nice army of their own.
wait i thought they were far less equipped and far less trained and discipline than the imperial roman army.
@@kicokyaw1039 Nope, the Eastern Army was as disciplined and trained as the Roman Legions.
This was a great video and explained a complex subject quite well. We are reminded that the legionary had excellent training, excellent equipment and benefited from solid logistics.
I didn’t even realize those were drawings till you said so, great channel and great quality
Little tip: although I'm personally used to the imperial system, you should also add the information with the metric system, so the rest of the world can understand your video better :)
good video tho, keep them coming!!!
The metric and Imperial were both on here from what I saw.
I loved this video love to see maybe one on Chinese soldiers or greek hoplites keep up the great work
Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) was appropriately portrayed in your artwork,
as a grown man in a little boys body!!
You mean a god in a man's body?
Ironically, once grown up Caligola was VERY high for classic standards (1.90m).
@@neutronalchemist3241 1.90 is longer than Italian average height
Ironic and sad that Germanicus was seen as an absolute rock star in rome, and came close to being the next emperor,the golden age may have started early with him on the throne but instead his son Caligula did
I really admire your work. Congratulations from Brazil.
No wonder they were so good for so long! Plus they respected the good points of their advisories.
Epimetheus thanks for making my procrastination incredibly informative and fun. I am amazed by your content, I salute your creativity sir !!!
Love this kind of videos going through equipment and explaining era,use,good and bad qualities
I think it is the most acurrate, detailed and beautiful description of the roman Legionary 1 st AD
Whoah! I thought I knew more than just a little bit of Roman's, but it seems, I have to learn a whole lot more!
Thank you!
You say that black was viewed as unlucky by some romans, I’m interested in your source for this. Not that I doubt your claim, but I know that in wall paintings, particularly of the third pompeian type, black was an expensive and thus desirable color for many of the painted stucco walls in high/middle class villas and homes. Good video as always!
More properly said-Romans had basically the very same associations with black color as we do modernly(at least in western world) and there is a lot of episodes preserved in their text to make it clear for us they also see it as symbolic of death therefore clothing in that color could be(and sometimes really was)considered as a bad omen.But saying that it does not mean,of course,that they had no use of black or only understand it in negative associations-same as we are not.
I think most of the stuff he said about color is not completly correct. for example the color blue was surley not liked by romans and greek, they didnt even have a name for it. It was considred to be the color of the barbarian eyes. And in general color were expensive back than. More probably the dress were not colored.
Black is always bad luck........LOL!
Mad respect that you drew all these.
You drew this. Amazing!
I love history. It is something we must understand. I have a strong fascination with ancient history.Thank you for the video
Have you considered doing commissions or putting your talent with illustration into more use? I'm sure you could make decent money by illustrating certain things from history for other people.
wouldn't that take away time that he could possibly use in making videos?
even tho it's up to him
@@steyn1775 yea but then he makes more money from other things which can potentially even increase video quality.
It's not that easy
Very good video! Romans preferred the tunica because they thought that pants were barbaric, but they were smart enough to put pants to use north of the Alps, where the climate was much colder. According to Caesar (I believe), he states that the thrown pila would stick together the overlapping shields of enemies, too - questionable though that it happened often enough. It did not only prevent that the javelin could be thrown back, but also makes the enemy's shield heavier and more clumsy to use.
One main point certainly is that Romans - maybe apart from Spartans, or maybe even Athenian citizens (who still were farmers... because that was proper and all) - were the only real professional soldiers that received professional training and did nothing but being soldiers. That was a huge advantage and made a legionnaire very capable.
The Romans were far from the first people to have a standing, professional army. In fact, they even fought standing, professional armies several times even before they themselves had transitioned from citizen soldiers to professional soldiers.
@Sam Bacon Roman citizenship was not necessarily bound to being a soldier, but for most it was a way into Roman citizenship.
@Sam Bacon No sweat. Pretty much all historical concepts were not constants, but ever-changing and dependend on many factors. Especially with citizen-soldiers; a Spartan would have had quite a different idea to that, as would have Athenians. We call all of them citizens, but they vastly differ in concept and also it changed over time - well, Spartans changed not that much though which is why they phased themselves out. Roman citizenship was exceptionally inclusive; no one asked where one was from, only: How much honor did you accumulate.
@Sam Bacon What a coincidence, I am a historian, though not in any way specialized in ancient times. I very much appreciate channels like this one and conversations like this, they are both rare and precious. I'm based in Germany, in which west of the Rhine we have tons of Roman remnants, many cities were founded by Romans here, and their cultural influence is a very big deal.
Great video, as an former soldier it is very interesting to see about the life of a roman legionar and the equipment.
The only thing I would dispute here is the 'function' of the pilum. Stating that its purpose was to bend after penetration is a rather old-school interpretation (based on a misunderstanding of a quote from Caesar). That long shank is there to enable the head to first punch through a shield and then into the bearer behind. Pila generally do not bend under their own weight, as repeated experiments show.
Hello Mr.Bishop(Mr.Bishop is one on the most world wide respected scholars on Roman army equipment in case you dont know it).I ve read your book on Pila and most of others too.With the newest title on Spatha I had few reservations to illustration of Portus Adurni battle though.
That mosaic of Europe was awesome well done
Awesome video and drawings. I really liked how you introduced each piece of equipment one at a time in a logical manner as if the legionaries was kitting up for a march. That made it easy to understand and take in
I DID enjoy the video and drawings you made!! I'd like to see more of these types of videos...
Very cool/informative video. I greatly liked your drawings/animations. I thought your "I am Batman" gruff whisper voice was strange and unnecessary, but >shrug< I guess it wasn't that bad. Overall, thumbs-up. Thanks for sharing.
Great video as always! Also even though the leginary is so iconic most of the operations of the Roman army were made by auxiliary troops and even on the battlefield most of the soldiers were auxiliaries because they were specialized in tasks that the Roman leginaries couldn't do or they didn't wanted to do. The number of auxiliaries was big especially after Augustus and they were also used because if they done their service they had a chance to become Roman citizens. The difference in the late empire is that because of Emperor Caracalla who extended the citizenship to everyone who lived in the empire they had a lack of auxiliaries because the only reason they served in the army in the first place was to gain citizenship and the Romans were forced to train their own specialized troops or look for outside the borders because obviously you can't fight wars just with heavy infantry, light and medium troops are also as or even more vital than the heavy ones. Also in terms of equipment considering how ancient warfare looked the Roman army wasn't really that advanced (most of the equipment being inspired by the Celtic one) but their advantage was a more rationalized type of warfare and the economy to mass-produce that equipment and even the Roman army suffered a lot of humiliating defeats even before the 3rd century and the late empire. So in short the Roman army always used a lot of mercenaries but most people think that they used them in the late empire because they see what happened to the west which feel primarily because of lack of resources and population to back up their military and economy compared to the East. Also fun fact even though the lorica segmentata is so popular during some operations the legionaries would've switched to lorica hamata.
Superb video, just what I was looking for, although I would also like to know a bit more about three areas:
1. Underwear and the general maintenance of all their gear. Every metal part must have had underwear between.
2. The shields must have been very heavy, so when marching from place to place, would they have worn them on their backs?
3. I'm assuming that the tunics would have ended up being pink rather than red, from washing or just being rained on and U/V from the sun. (All red dyes suffer from fading in the sun)
Something about this video makes my cat insane. It may be the black specks on the background. She jumped a good four feet when I tried to break her focus on the screen. :) Maybe she just likes history like I do. Great video, btw.
Historocat...or Epicat :D
Good video. No fluff and straight to the point.
Could you make a video about Portugal please?
Nobodys gonna talk about how the gladius sword just looks like a peppermill with a blade?
It would be far more correct to use the term "Iberian" rather than "Spanish" since you are describing a location rather than providing the direct source of inspiration for the sword/dagger design. Spanish means nothing relative to this time period :p.
Great vid though, loved it
You are correct and Iberian would worked well.Romans are known to call it as Hispanic sword(gladius hispaniensis and also in alternative shape of the word "hispanicus".
At the time Iberia was used from Kingdom of Iberia in Caucasus by Romans and Greeks.
Yes.....the Romans called Spain Iberia after the Iberian peninsula. They also had other names for the province. Spain has almost as many Roman ruins as Italy because Spain was an important province and had many loyal soldiers and politicians working in and for Rome.
Hispannia
@@dapabur1 The peoples of the mediterranean coast were called Iberians (and their land Iberia) thanks to the river Iberus, the modern river Ebro.
When you see the extreme effort Rome put into its military. You can understand the advantages they had(especially latebc- 1st century ad.) Over their adversaries. After they defeated the remnants of Alexander's Generals of the Selucids empire. And held off Pyrus of epirus. And Augustus made peace with the Parthians. They would be rolling up small federated tribes like clockwork for decades. But nothing was as bloody and brutal as a Roman civil war. Roman legions were like gigantic chainsaws tearing into each other. Septimus Severus wars of consolidation were among the largest and bloodiest. But there were plenty. " It is good war is so costly,else we would grow to fond of it." Gen. Robert E. Lee.
5:19
Am I the only one who thinks this is literally what a Boy Scout would look like if they had existed in Ancient Rome?
Lorica Squamata - the Roman examples found are primarily scale over chain armour, not scale upon cloth.
Simply beautiful
Thank you !
Excellent stuff brother
The drawings have improved a lot!
@ 3:58 Oh okay, I thought the belt was strictly for groin protection, but I knew just by looking at it that it wasn't going to protect much, lol. I can imagine tons of jingling of the belts would certainly inspire fear.
Looks like the algorithm finally noticed you. Subbed
This is a very good piece of work, combining good research with very sound logic and deduction.
So what the Roman Legionaries wore under their tunica?
Under their tunics and clothing the Romans usually wore loincloth underwear that was knotted on both sides.
@Sam Bacon true
Spandex! All Spandex!
I love that you do all your own drawings on these. You have a distinctive style that makes your videos stand out from other channels. Really speaks to your passion and commitment. Thanks, and keep it up!
I had no idea that their sandals were like cleats
The artwork makes the videos more informative.
YAY I AM SO EXCITED TO WATCH THIS
Thanks for taking the time and care to do this! It'd be great to see a video of how these legionaries and their equipment evolved into the era of Diocletian and Constantine.
Why the hell is RUclips unsubscribing me from the channels I follow? I just had to subscribe to you...again.
I was impressed that you did all the artwork. Got a like from me!
*Germanic Barbarian* : ''WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE?!''
This is about the most informative video on the subject that I've seen. I've wondered about how they made stuff back then. And the scarf looks like it could be the ancestor of the necktie.
Why don't we wear these tunics in summer anymore? It seems these are much more practical and comfortable than jeans with a shirt
Because fashion.. also many men today have chicken legs : D
I have long been a fan of the legions and I very much enjoyed this presentation! Good job!
It had a lot of time to evolve constantly changing that’s why Rome was always the best fighters they where not afraid to change to suit changing situations
Picturing a roman legion returning from a long campaign looking like an opened pack of M&Ms got me laughing
Nice video :) Would you be able to do something similar for other historical armies? Such as Nomads, Mongols, Steppe Hoards etc?
My man is also doing his own drawings. You sir deserve way more suscribers.
1 guy + 1 suit of armor = 3 soldiers
STONKS
Really enjoying the paper doll aesthetic on the example legionary
Wow! Interesting! Impressive! Intriguing! Imaginative! Images are amazing!
I like this format. It fleshes out not only you other videos with back story information but it also ties into many other ancient writings and explains some of what was written. An example would be Roman soldiers who were found to be Christians would discard their belts. Now I see this is a rejection of the Empire not merely resigning from the service.
They were found to be Christians and discharged from the army. The belt was the uniform. The Christians themselves weren't rejecting the army or empire. They were forced out. This happened under Diocletian, and not everywhere.
Awesome content. I would love to see this kind of video for Republican soldiers. Also for post Diocletian or post Constantine soldiers.
Thanks for all the vids on ancient history
Dude i actually own a 1st-2nd century AD roman ring pommeled gladious. Its one of my favorite artifact. The ring pommel makes it really interesting because it suggest it should of come from a style around Thrace but the only 2 in museums were both found in the UK! One is in the British museum.
Gladius(...which merely means "sword").Ring pommel swords were pretty polular in the Roman army since ca.half of the 2nd century to half of the 3rd and they are known from several sites not just two.Romans almost certainly adopted it from Sarmatian tribes who typically use such swords very long before Romans.
Beautiful drawings, very well explained! Thank you so much