Information AboutTriarii |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT TRIARII | |
| military units and formations of the roman republic | |
| infantry units and formations of ancient rome | |
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The Triarii is a type of Roman Legionary . ORIGINS
Unlike the Principes and Hastati, by the time of Polybius a legion contained only 600 Triarii. These were divided into 10 Maniple s of 60 men and each maniple was sub divided two centuries of 30 men. These units may originally have been larger. The Triarii were the veterans of the Roman army, making them perfectly suited for reinforcing the two front lines of the formation which were Hastati and Principes . They were armored much like the rest of the Roman Republican army, with whatever they could afford (typically more than the poorer Hastati and Principes). When the Principes and Hastati of Republican army were rearmed with javelins, the Triarii retained their long spears and Scuta and continued to fight as a Phalanx . If the initial attacks of the Javelin - and Sword - armed troops could not break an enemy, the Triarii served as a strong point around which the army would regroup (in the same manner as in much later centuries squares of musketmen were to provide a defensive screen for reforming cavalrymen). They also were responsible for holding off cavalry charges with their spears. Although relatively often the Triarii were not deployed on the battlefield at all, but were left to guard the camp. The term ''Triarii'', together with the terms Principes and Hastati, survived into Imperial times, each denoting a third part of a Cohort . However, by this time these names were merely honorific, the cohort being uniformly armed and equipped. NOTES REFERENCES Primary sources (none yet) Secondary sources SEE ALSO |
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