ARMA
ARMA,
ARMATU´RA (
ὅπλα, Hom.
ἔντεα,
τεύχεα), arms, armour. Homer describes in various
passages the entire suit of armour of
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A Greek Soldier. (Hope's Costume of the
Ancients. ）
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some of his greatest warriors, viz. of Achilles, Patroclus,
Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Paris (11. 3.328-339, 4.132-138, 11.15-45, xvi.
[p. 1.190]130-142, 19.364-391); and we observe that it
consisted of the same portions which were used by the Greek soldiers ever
after. Moreover, the order of putting them on is always the same. The
heavy-armed warrior, having already a tunic around his body, and preparing
for combat, puts on,--first, his greaves (
κνημῖδες,
ocreae); secondly, his cuirass (
θώραξ,
lorica), to which belonged the
μιτρη underneath, and the zone (
ζώνη, ζωστῆρ, (
cingulum) above; thirdly, his sword (
ξιφος,
ensis, gladius) hung on the left side of his
body by means of a belt which passed over the right shoulder; fourthly, the
large round shield (
σκ́κος, ἀσπίς,
clipeus, scutum), supported in the same
manner; fifthly, his helmet (
κόρυς, κυνέη,
cassis, galea) ; sixthly and lastly, he took
his spear (
ἔγχος, δόρυ,
hasta), or, in many cases, two spears (
δοῦρε δύω). The form and use of these portions
are described in separate articles under their Latin names. The foregoing
woodcut exhibits them all in the form of a Greek warrior attired for battle,
as shown in Hope's
Costume of the Ancients (1.70).
Those who were defended in the manner which has now been represented, are
called by Homer
ἀσπισταί, from their great
shield (
ἀσπίς); also
ἀλχέμαχοι, because they fought hand to hand with their
adversaries; but much more commonly
πρόμαχοι, because they occupied the front of the army: and it is
to be observed that these terms, especially the last, were honourable
titles, the expense of a complete suit of armour (
πανοπλίη,
Hdt. 1.60) being of itself sufficient to prove
the wealth and rank of the wearer, while his place on the field was no less
indicative of strength and bravery.
In later times, the heavy-armed soldiers were called
ὁπλῖται, because the term
ὅπλα more especially denoted the defensive armour, the shield
and thorax. By <*>earing these they were distinguished from
the light-armed, whom Herodotus (
9.62,
63), for the reason just mentioned, calls
ἄνοπλοι, and who are also denominated
ψιλοί, and
γυμνοί,
γυμνῆται, or
γυμνῆτες.
Instead of being defended by the shield and thorax, their bodies had a much
slighter covering, sometimes consisting of skins, and sometimes of leather
or cloth; and instead of the sword and lance, they commonly fought with
darts, stones, bows and arrows, or slings.
Besides the heavy-and light-armed soldiers, the
ὁπλῖται and
ψιλοί, who in
general bore towards one another the intimate relation now explained,
another description of men, the
πελτασταί,
sometimes formed a part of the Greek army after the Persian wars, and
regularly after the expedition of the Ten Thousand. Instead of the large
round shield, they carried a smaller one called the
πέλτη, and in other respects their armour was much lighter
than that of the hoplites. The weapon on which they principally depended was
the spear.
The Roman soldiers had different kinds of arms and armour; but an account of
the arms of the different kinds of troops cannot be separated from a
description of the troops of a Roman army, and the reader is therefore
referred to
EXERCITUS The
following cut represents two heavy-armed Roman soldiers, and is taken from
the reliefs on Trajan's Column. On comparing it with that of the Greek
hoplite in the other cut, we perceive that the several parts of the armour
correspond, excepting only that the Roman soldier wears a dagger (
μάχαιρα,
pugio) on his
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Roman Soldiers. (From Column of Trajan )
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right side instead of a sword on his left, and, instead of greaves
(which were abandoned in imperial times) upon his legs, has
femoralia and
caligae.
All the essential parts of the Roman heavy armour (
lorica, ensis, clipeus, galea, hasta) are mentioned together
in an epigram of Martial (
9.57); and all except
the spear in a well-known passage (Eph. 6.14-17) of St. Paul, whose
enumeration exactly coincides with the figures on the Arch of Severus, and
who makes mention not only of greaves, but of shoes or sandals for the feet.
The soft or flexible parts of the heavy armour were made of cloth or leather.
The metal principally used in their formation was that compound of copper
and tin which we call bronze, or more properly bell-metal. [
AES] Hence the names for this metal
(
χαλκός,
aes) are often used to mean
armour, and the light reflected from the arms of a warrior is
called
αὐγὴ χαλκείη by Homer, and
lux aëna by Virgil (
Aen.
2.470). Instead of copper, iron afterwards came to be very extensively used
in the manufacture of arms, although articles made of it are much more
rarely discovered, because iron is by exposure to air and moisture
exceedingly liable to corrosion and decay. Gold and silver, and tin unmixed
with copper, were also used, more especially to enrich and adorn the armour.
[
J.Y]
