Velites

Common card · No. 396720

Velites (Latin: [ˈweːlɪteːs]; sing.: veles) were a class of infantry in the Roman army of the mid-Republic from 211 to 107 BC. Velites were light infantry and skirmishers armed with javelins (Latin: hastae velitares), each with a 75cm (30 inch) wooden shaft the diameter of a finger, with a 25cm (10 inch) narrow metal point, to fling at the enemy. They also carried short thrusting swords, or gladii, for use in melee. They rarely wore armour as they were the youngest and poorest soldiers in the legion and could not afford much equipment, but they did carry small wooden shields called parma for protection. The velites were placed at the front partly for tactical reasons, and also so that they had the opportunity to secure glory for themselves in single combat. Velites did not form their own units; a number of them were attached to each maniple of hastati, principes and triarii. They were typically used as a screening force, driving off enemy skirmishers and disrupting enemy formations with...

Read on Wikipedia · Image «Военная энциклопедия И. Д. Сытина». (Санкт-Петербург; 1911)., Public domain