Roman swords vs Greek swords

[Quintius Clavus]

I have just started reading Infantry Combat in Livy's Battle Narratives, by Sam Koon, BAR International Series 2071, 2010, which I picked up at the AIA Meeting in Philadelphia this past weekend. It looks like he will compare Livy's narratives to those of Polybius and Caesar. He repeats frequently that the whole subject of infantry combat in the Roman middle Republic era is contentious. It looks like he will get into Livy's use of certain Latin words or phrases and compare their use as well in Polybius and/or Caesar.

He does cite Polybius' description of the gladius hispaniensis as a weapon suited for both thrust and cut. If everyone will remember, Polybius' spacing for a Roman infantryman is larger than that proposed by Vegetius writing several centuries later. It allows more room for a cutting motion with the longer gladius hispaniensis (compared to the shorter Mainz and Pompeii types of the early Principate). A military with as long a history as ancient Rome's will, of course, change over time.

I am certainly not going to rush through it. He is looking at both the individual in combat as well as the units in combat. I am anticipating an interesting read. Short of a time machine, we will never know for sure, but the discussion is worth having.