Battle Line and Formation changes in the Imperial Roman Army

After the Marius Reforms, there were many changes in the Imperial Roman Army. Not the least of these was changes in the battle lines and formations of the legionnaires. Before in the early 3rd century BC, the Army of the Republic included three lines of men, which consisted of the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii. This was done away with and the new Imperial Roman Army had two lines of men, with the first and the second each having five cohorts. Although, sometimes they took a standard three line formation, with four cohorts in the first line and three in the second and third lines. On the extreme right wing of a battle line was the first cohort. They were placed here because they were considered the Veterans of the army, and this was the most advantageous sector of the battle line. The cohorts were strategically placed in such a way that the strongest and veteran cohorts were in the wings and center, while the weaker ones were placed in between them. This insured that the army did not cave in or not follow direct orders at the most important places on the battle field, the flanks and center.
With improved training and uniform gear, there were, however, new formations the cohorts could transform into to meet a new situation. These were prime examples that exemplified the ingenuity and effectiveness of Roman warfare. First and probably the most famous, was the Tortoise, or Testudo. You have probably seen this in historically accurate computer games or in movies such as Gladiator. When deployed effectively, the soldiers would use their roman shields (the scutum) and raise and interlock them so that the entire company became a square box almost completely invulnerable to missle fire and objects dropped from above. This way, casualties were minimized considerably when the enemy tried to use range weapons to weaken them before the well trained soldiers could engage them in close-quarters combat.

Battles were fought in much the same way as in the Pre-Marius times, with the exception of the heavier use of artillery. Often before heavy infantry were sent in, a barrage of missile fire from Onagers and Ballistas (ancient artillery) were used to weaken and dishearten the enemy. As the legionnaires approached the enemy and came within thirty yards or so, they would throw a volley or two of pilum that would weaken the enemy before they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The single lines were replaced with a three to five men line, so that the soldiers could easily rotate to replace fallen or fatigued comrades.

John Hilde is a historical roman weapons and armor collector and owns his own online store selling authentic armor and weapons. Please visit http://www.armorvenue.com to learn more and browse a range of authentic roman armor replicas.