Resumen de Pilum and Telum: The Roman Infantryman's Style of Combat in the Middle Republic
Alexander Zhmodikov's influential 2000 article argued that the Roman army of the Republic relied more on the javelin (pilum) than had been previously believed. But the question of the prevalence of ranged weapons on the Roman battlefield requires a more careful look—one that differentiates between the types of ranged weapons that were employed and what they can tell us about Roman infantry combat in general. By surveying various battle narratives in Greek and Roman authors, this article nuances Zhmodikov's claim by analyzing the appearance of the pilum on the battlefield during the Roman Middle Republic to argue that the Roman army relied heavily on showers of light javelins (tela) from the light infantry (velites) to affect the interchanging of infantry lines during combat.
