08-24-2007, 09:30 PM
Noticed something strange when checking something about Roman missile weapons in Greece and Rome at War :?
This is (the most important part of) the text about plumbatae:
"An example from Wroxeter is complete with barbed iron head, lead weight, and part of the wooden shaft which is about one centimetre thick. Neutron radiographs show the head was split socketed. Examples have also been found with spiked tangs. Vegetius says that each soldiers carried five of these in the hollow of his shield. Reconstructions were made by the late Russell Robinson, and experiments showed that the weapon handled most efficiently with a fleched shaft 94cm long. It was also found that the range could be greatly increased by the use of a thong."
There's also an illustration of one of those reconstructions, it looks like a long arrow with a lead weight just below the point.
Wouldn't that be too long to be useable in the midst of battle?
This is (the most important part of) the text about plumbatae:
"An example from Wroxeter is complete with barbed iron head, lead weight, and part of the wooden shaft which is about one centimetre thick. Neutron radiographs show the head was split socketed. Examples have also been found with spiked tangs. Vegetius says that each soldiers carried five of these in the hollow of his shield. Reconstructions were made by the late Russell Robinson, and experiments showed that the weapon handled most efficiently with a fleched shaft 94cm long. It was also found that the range could be greatly increased by the use of a thong."
There's also an illustration of one of those reconstructions, it looks like a long arrow with a lead weight just below the point.
Wouldn't that be too long to be useable in the midst of battle?
[size=75:18gu2k6n]- Roy Aarts[/size]