ROMA52 OPTIO. LEGIO VII GEMINA. HISPANIA S.V

Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, infantry was the main element of the Roman army and retained this role - despite the significant increase in cavalry - also in the 3rd-5th centuries AD. Undoubtedly, however, the Roman legion from the late Empire was a completely different unit than the unit of the same name from the times of Julius Caesar or Octavian Augustus. First of all, the Late Roman legion had considerably fewer men. It is assumed that he most often had the strength of 1,000 to 3,000 men against 5,000 in the 1st century AD legion. During the so-called The crises of the 3rd century (235-284 AD) as well as the 4th century AD also significantly increased the number of legions. The equipment of the legionnaires also changed significantly. The shield became much lighter and was often round rather than rectangular as was the case with the earlier period scutum. Much cheaper helmets were also introduced to the equipment, instead of the Gallic-Imperial helmets, much better in terms of quality, but more expensive from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The famous lorica segmentata were no longer used as armor, but mostly scale armor and chain mail. Javelins remained a weapon, but spears began to be used on a large scale. The side weapon was still the sword, but it was (usually) elongated compared to the classic gladius. Complete types of weapons also appeared, such as plumbata, i.e. light arrows intended to be thrown by legionnaires by hand.