A legion was nominally composed of 6,000 soldiers, and each legion was divided up into 10 cohorts, with each cohort containing 6 centuria. The centurion thus nominally commanded about 100 men, and there were 60 centurions in a legion.

Centurions had to be literate (to be able to read written orders), have connections (letters of recommendation), be at least 30 years of age, and have already served a few years in the military. They also have had to be able to boost their soldiers’ morale.

Spartans were Elite Troops, and Greek. Centurions were Roman Mass produced Stormtroopers. The difference is Spartans are Greek and the Centurion is Italian. …

legionaries

Each legion had 59 centurions, one to command each centuria of the 10 cohorts. The commanding officer of a Roman legion was called a legate, or Legatus Legionis. Each Legion also had a 120 man Alae (cavalry unit) called the Eques Legionis permanently attached to it possibly to be used as scouts and messengers.

The pilum (Latin: [ˈpiːɫʊ̃]; plural pila) was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) long overall, consisting of an iron shank about 7 millimetres (0.28 in) in diameter and 60 centimetres (24 in) long with a pyramidal head.

(athletics) a person who throws a javelin. There is the word “javelinier” (or “javelineer”), but apparently that is only used for non-athletic purposes. Wikitionary defines “javelinier” as: A soldier who throws a javelin.

Occasional accidents occur in athletics disciplines such as the javelin and the hammer, but deaths are extremely rare. In 2007, French long jumper Salim Sdiri was speared by a javelin at an athletics meeting in Rome and had to be taken to hospital for his injuries.

A soldier carried two spears to throw at the enemy. The spears were just over two metres* long and they were designed to bend and stick in the enemy’s shield so he cannot use it to protect himself. They were difficult to pull out and will bend on impact, so they couldn’t be thrown back at the attacking Roman soldiers.

On the battlefield the red tunic worn under the armor represented blood and strength. Certainly, the compact line of Roman infantry, dressed in red, had a psychological impact on the enemy army, which perceived it as strong and valiant.

The xiphos (Ancient Greek: ξίφος [ksípʰos]; plural xiphe, Ancient Greek: ξίφη [ksípʰɛː]) is a double-edged, one-handed Iron Age straight shortsword used by the ancient Greeks.

“Romans adopted swords to combat the Samnites due to terrain making spear use unwieldy.” As SofNascimento pointed out, Greece was pretty mountainous as well, yet they employed the phalanx to great effect. That way you could disrupt enemy lines, AND stay safe behind the length of the spear.

It was probably invented by accident by heating iron for a long time in charcoal furnaces. If you’re talking about the western Roman empire, they may have had high quality iron for weapons use which could have qualified as low carbon steel, but steel is generally considered to be a development of the middle ages.

Tin was also an important product for use in solders. Mixing tin with lead, to make it melt easier, solders were used in all sorts of crafts including jewelry, metal pottery and tools. The use of tin solders in lead pipe plumbing made effective sealants possible to carry water uninterrupted throughout the Roman world.

It was the importance placed on iron by the Romans throughout the Empire which completed the shift from the few cultures still using primarily bronze into the Iron Age.

As the Roman Empire grew, the hunger for gold expanded too. Their victories got them gold from mines at Vercellae, the Rhine River, as well as from the Atlantic coast of Central Africa and parts of Egypt – indeed, from all over the world.

The Romans mined for metals in every part of their empire. They sought both utilitarian metals such as iron, copper, tin, and lead, and the precious metals gold and silver.

The Roman Empire valued pepper very highly, and hence, it was known as black gold.

The Roman Empire During the Roman occupation , coal was used as fuel to heat baths, as ornaments and for iron forging. As part of this worship, the Romans used coal to sustain a ‘perpetual fire’ at a temple in what is modern-day Bath.