03-28-2005, 06:13 PM
When I say 20,000 casualties, I mean dead and wounded. A hit from an arrow was not necessarily fatal. In fact, from what I know, it was usually not immediately fatal.<br>
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It depends where the wound was. Wounds to the torso were the most serious. A punctured lung, liver or intestine was serious. It is doubtful the wounded man could march any more.<br>
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A wound to the leg could be almost as debilitating.<br>
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There is a possibility that the arrows were treated to cause infection.<br>
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In order to have the effect of piercing a shield and armor, the arrow would have to be fired at very close range. As the Romans were immobile this could be done with the fabled Parthian shot. This underscores the value of the entrenching tactics the Romans used which called for a berm, a ditch and obstacles like stakes, spikes and pits. Such preparation could have minimized the Parthian shot tactic, forcing the Parthians to shoot from a greater range, with less effect. Crassus didn't appear to have bothered with this. Hmmmm. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=johnmmcdermott>JOHN M MCDERMOTT</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://photobucket.com/albums/v488/JohnMcDermott/th_DSC00144.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 3/28/05 8:14 pm<br></i>
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It depends where the wound was. Wounds to the torso were the most serious. A punctured lung, liver or intestine was serious. It is doubtful the wounded man could march any more.<br>
<br>
A wound to the leg could be almost as debilitating.<br>
<br>
There is a possibility that the arrows were treated to cause infection.<br>
<br>
In order to have the effect of piercing a shield and armor, the arrow would have to be fired at very close range. As the Romans were immobile this could be done with the fabled Parthian shot. This underscores the value of the entrenching tactics the Romans used which called for a berm, a ditch and obstacles like stakes, spikes and pits. Such preparation could have minimized the Parthian shot tactic, forcing the Parthians to shoot from a greater range, with less effect. Crassus didn't appear to have bothered with this. Hmmmm. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=johnmmcdermott>JOHN M MCDERMOTT</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://photobucket.com/albums/v488/JohnMcDermott/th_DSC00144.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 3/28/05 8:14 pm<br></i>
"In war as in loving, you must always keep shoving." George S. Patton, Jr.
