SCIPIO SAVES HIS FATHER

Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus’ father) crossed the Po River to try to make contact with Hannibal’s army which had recently completed its crossing of the Alps. Scouts reported that the Carthaginian army was at the Trebia River. He had a pontoon bridge constructed. He crossed and established a camp. Read more…

THE TRIPLEX ACIES

            The Roman legion was organized into maniples. These were like loose phalanxes. The hastati and principes maniples had 120 men each and the triarii had 60. It is unclear how the men were placed in the hastati and principes maniples. It could have been 10 men across and 12 Read more…

THE GLADIUS

The sword used by Scipio’s army in Spain in the Second Punic War was the famous gladius Hispaniensus (“the Spanish sword”), usually referred to as simply the gladius. It has been called the weapon that won an empire. It was probably adopted from the Iberians in the Second Punic War Read more…

THE SCUTUM

The key to a legionary’s survival was the shield. It was called a scutum.  Polybius describes it as being rectangular and 2 ½ foot wide and 4 feet tall. “It consists of two layers of wood fastened together with bull’s-hide glue; the outer surface of which is first covered with Read more…

THE LEVY

            The army of the Second Punic is sometimes called the manipular army or the Polybian army. The word legion comes from the Latin word for a gathering or a levy. This was a reference to the method of forming the army. When the two consuls were appointed, they called Read more…