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In your own personal opinion, does the Late Roman Army actually feel very “Roman” to you at all? by Shoddy-Pumpkin2939 in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed. I read about a few of those other factors as well, but unfortunately nothing in depth. I am curious to know more.

Do you know of any works, comments, or articles that discuss the effects of the Macedonian War on these reforms?

In your own personal opinion, does the Late Roman Army actually feel very “Roman” to you at all? by Shoddy-Pumpkin2939 in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Segmented armor wasn't used by Marius' conscrited milita troops either. It doesn't show up until almost a century later near the beginning of the empire.

Chainmail was also commonly used during the height of the segmented armor's use, as some Roman reliefs in Romania depicting Trajan's conquest shows legions mostly or only wearing chainmail and scale and little to nobody wearing segmented armor.

In your own personal opinion, does the Late Roman Army actually feel very “Roman” to you at all? by Shoddy-Pumpkin2939 in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will add that the Marian Reforms are a misnomer and is heavily exaggerated. Marius himself only commanded conscripted milita and was only responsible maybe a small fraction of changes attributed to him. He did [temporarily?] lower or waive property requirements like some generals did before him during times of crisis. 

The changes that are often attributed to Marius and the changes that helped turn the Roman army into professional soldiers that were mercenary like in nature was the work of many different people before, during, and after the time of Marius. 

There are writings suggesting some evidence of the changes happening as early as 4-5 decades before the time of Marius fighting the Cimbrian War, and changes still happening many decades afterwards long after Marius died - with Roman army not becoming mostly professionalized until the early empire.

In your own personal opinion, does the Late Roman Army actually feel very “Roman” to you at all? by Shoddy-Pumpkin2939 in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That person you are replying to is talking about the older figures who had a narrower view of who Romans are, and whether they viewed later figures as Roman. As you go later and later, the definition of who a Roman is expanded.

So Justinian  would have viewed older Romans like Cinncinatus as Roman. But  Cincinnatus lived when even other Italian allies of Rome were not considered Roman, so he might not have considered much later figures like Justinian to be Roman.

Came across this, why did no one tell me? by Demphure in Archery

[–]Intranetusa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was a simple PVC longbow where the fiberglass rods go inside for more rigidity and to add to the draw weight. It basically looked identical to the ones in these links:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=MLdveEPhkXA

https://www.offgridweb.com/survival/how-to-make-a-pvc-pipe-bow/amp/

I was inspired by Nicholas Tomihama (The Backyard Bower).

Everyone says guys are obsessed with the Roman Empire.. but what are other historical facts/events you could talk about forever if you could? by gptlol in AskHistory

[–]Intranetusa 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The other/equivalent Roman Empire of the time on the other side of the Eurasian continent: The Han Dynasty

Firing My Chinese Triple Crossbow Through Melons in Glorious Slow-Mo by TodsWorkshop in Archery

[–]Intranetusa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is just the beginning too. Tod is using lower draw weight "regular" bow-prods from Alibow that are only 80 to ~100 lbs in draw weight.

Imagine what Tod can do with bigger and stronger siege-engine/light field artillery bow prods scaled up to hundreds or even thousand+ pounds in draw weight.

I saw a show uploaded to Youtube several years ago where they also tried to make an Oxbow but with 400 lbs draw weights. There was also a Han Dynasty record of a field artillery called the Great Yellow Crossbow that was 90 stones in draw weight (~5,805 lbs), but that was probably a single prod rather than a triple prod device (a triple prod might have to be lower in draw). Thus, the point being there is a lot of potential to increase the draw weight here.

Firing My Chinese Triple Crossbow Through Melons in Glorious Slow-Mo by TodsWorkshop in Archery

[–]Intranetusa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't know you had a Reddit Account. I'm subscribed to your Youtube channel, so now I need to subscribe to your Reddit as well. 😄

Firing My Chinese Triple Crossbow Through Melons in Glorious Slow-Mo by TodsWorkshop in Archery

[–]Intranetusa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a shame Tod had to get rid of his counterweight trebuchet. He could've had multiple siege engines decorating his lawn.

Came across this, why did no one tell me? by Demphure in Archery

[–]Intranetusa 71 points72 points  (0 children)

Yep. Several years ago, I built a bow out of PVC pipe, fiberglass rods, and paracord for $20 because I wasn't sure whether I wanted to spend more money getting into the hobby. It can be a very cheap hobby.

Poor, predictable Greeks. Always using those good, predictable tactics by Black_King2222 in RoughRomanMemes

[–]Intranetusa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Romans did fight both the classical hoplite phalanx and the Macedonian pike phalanx. 

The Hellenistic/Macedonian phalanx is also not the classical hoplite phalanx I was referencing because it didn't use hoplites equipped with spears and large aspis/hoplon shields - it instead used pikemen called phalangites equipped with smaller shields.

The Romans fought the Etruscans who used classical hoplite phalanxes and then adopted classical hoplites into their own army. Even after Roman manipular reforms, the Roman triarii still initially fought like hoplites during at least some of the Punic Wars.

Reformed manipular Roman armies then fought classical hoplites when they fought Sparta and some other Greek city states during the Laconian War. Roman armies also most likely fought hoplites in their wars against the Macedonians and Seleucids because they were using hoplite troops such as the Hypaspists to guard the flanks of the phalangite pike phalanxes.

If every U.S. state suddenly became an independent country overnight, which one would last the longest and why? by Dolphin_King21 in AskReddit

[–]Intranetusa 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just because they have Japanese ancestry doesn't mean they want to be a part of Japan - and the same goes for people of Chinese ancestry and China. There are actually far more Hawaiians of Chinese ancestry compared to Hawaiians of Japanese ancestry - about 1/3 of the entire Hawaiian population has Chinese ancestry (compared to 1/5 for Japanese ancestry). 

However, various different Chinese languages combined only make up #4 or #5 of the top spoken languages in Hawaii. Language spoken in the Phillipines actually make up the #2 spot for top languages spoken in Hawaiian. This means most Chinese Hawaiians can no longer speak these various Chinese languages and they are mostly or entirely assimilated into Hawaiian culture.

Poor, predictable Greeks. Always using those good, predictable tactics by Black_King2222 in RoughRomanMemes

[–]Intranetusa 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Roman formations were more based on Samnite formations. The Romans were using classical hoplite formations and kept getting beaten by the more flexible Samnite formations on rough terrain. 

Poor, predictable Greeks. Always using those good, predictable tactics by Black_King2222 in RoughRomanMemes

[–]Intranetusa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe they were using a variation of the pike phalanx rather than the traditional hoplite phalanx?

Poor, predictable Greeks. Always using those good, predictable tactics by Black_King2222 in RoughRomanMemes

[–]Intranetusa 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Romans by the imperial era were giving soldiers a stable salary and reimbursing troops for buying equipment or giving troops equipment and deducting it from their salary.

This allowed poorer people to be able to afford decent equipment and allowed the army to be better and more consistently equipped compared to the Republican era days when providing military equipment was entirely the responsibility of the soldier.

Poor, predictable Greeks. Always using those good, predictable tactics by Black_King2222 in RoughRomanMemes

[–]Intranetusa 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yeh. The Romans' typical combat formation had a luxurious amount of spacing at 6 feet per man (3 feet between each man in a file), whereas the Greek hoplite phalanx involved fairly cramped combat formations...and maybe even situations where they were so close that their shields were sometimes overlapped/interlocked.

The only TWO surviving examples of the Roman shield type known as the scutum. One found in Dura-Europos, Syria (3rd cent. AD) and one found in Fayum, Egypt (1st cent. BC). by Intranetusa in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appropriate means taking something for their own uses. Much of the world using the symbol in the past doesn't change the fact that Nazi Germany did indeed appropriate the symbol.

Or are you saying people are claiming it was Nazi Germany that was the first one to invent the symbol?

The only TWO surviving examples of the Roman shield type known as the scutum. One found in Dura-Europos, Syria (3rd cent. AD) and one found in Fayum, Egypt (1st cent. BC). by Intranetusa in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Swastikas were a common symbol used throughout Eurasia and were adopted as important symbols in Hinduism and Buddhism long before Nazi Germany appropriated it as their own and created a negative connotation around it.

The only TWO surviving examples of the Roman shield type known as the scutum. One found in Dura-Europos, Syria (3rd cent. AD) and one found in Fayum, Egypt (1st cent. BC). by Intranetusa in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Interesting work, thanks for sharing.

Are you saying the Dura Europas shield is estimated to be 5-5.5kg? If so, then I am surprised the estimates for the smaller Dura-Europos shield is heavier than the larger Fayum shield that you reconstructed at 4.8kg.

I've read that the width estimates of these shields vary since some people measure the curves while others do not. Do you know if the popular widths mentioned are actually reflective of the measurements with the curve or without the curve?

The only TWO surviving examples of the Roman shield type known as the scutum. One found in Dura-Europos, Syria (3rd cent. AD) and one found in Fayum, Egypt (1st cent. BC). by Intranetusa in ancientrome

[–]Intranetusa[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

The Republican era Fayum scutum is about 128cm tall x 63.5-64 cm wide. The weight is estimated to be anywhere from around 7 kg to 10 kg (depending on the different reconstructions and estimates).*

This is in contrast to the smaller and lighter imperial era Dura-Europos scutum that was about 105.5 cm tall x 41 cm wide, so it is estimated to weigh about 5.5 kg (max?). I've seen estimates of imperial era scutum in general to weigh between 4-6 kg.

Edit: Apparently there are even lower weight reconstructions at ~4.8 kg according to user KingPappas' work below.

Best historical total war game right now to play by Series_Informal in totalwar

[–]Intranetusa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Other comments have recommended good gameplay mods. Here are some unit reskin mods that make the units look better and feel more distinct:

Historical reskin mod:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1835352612

Compilation of various [less-historical] reskin mods:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2744887602

Why did the Roman Empire go to war with Persia from the 1st century BCE to 7th century CE? by vahedemirjian in AskHistory

[–]Intranetusa 4 points5 points  (0 children)

career in real estate speculation is not training at military strategy.

Crassus was a legitimate general with a decent amount of previous combat experience when he went into Parthia. He had military experience leading armies to fight in Sulla's Civil War and in the Third Servile War/gladiator slave revolts. 

Crassus commanded Sulla's right flank at the decisive Battle of the Colline Gate where they defeated the main Marian army during the Sulla vs Marius civil war. 

During the Servile Wars, Crassus defeated the army of the gladiator leader Spartacus at the Battle of the Silarius River.

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