Whether it was with the Carthaginians, or the Gauls or the
Britons – or amongst themselves – the one thing you can’t avoid in the Roman
authors is a fight. Vocabulary related to the military comes up again and again
and it is useful to become familiar with the most common terms.
Unless you’re deeply into Roman military history, knowing
the “fine details” of certain words isn’t essential: cohors, legio, centuria,
for example, refer to divisions, companies, groups in the army and, generally,
it’s enough to know that, and different sources will give different details.
Similarly, when the Britons were hurling tela at the Romans,
that word has a very general meaning of “missiles”, and certain words can refer
to different roles both military and civilian.
I’ve broken it up into sections – partly based on the link
below - and given some notes, additional vocabulary and links that provide
further details.
https://www.worldhistory.org/.../organisation-of-the.../
legiōnārius, -a, -um: pertaining to the legion; legionary
legiōnāriī mīlitēs legiōnis X (Caesar; slightly adapted):
legionary soldiers of the tenth legion
arma, -ōrum [2 / n / pl]: weapons
caligae, -arum [1 / f / pl]: military boots [see image]
funda, -ae [1/f]: hand-sling
galea, -ae [1/f]: helmet
gladius, -ī [2/m]: sword
hasta, -ae [1/f]: spear; lance
iaculum, -ī [2/n]: dart; javelin
lōrīca, -ae [1/f] segmentāta: plate armour made of metal
strips [see image]
pilum, -ī [2/n]: javelin; throwing spear
sagitta, -ae [1/f]: arrow
scūtum, -ī [2/n]: shield [see image]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutum_from_Dura-Europos
tēlum, -ī [2/n]: offensive “missile” e.g. spear or javelin;
offensive weapons
tunica, -ae [1/f]: sleeveless; knee-length tunic, but not
only worn by the military, a standard type of clothing worn by the Romans
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