[New Roman History Books (April 2009)]

The last one looks interesting.

[Pig's nipple scratchings]

Errgghh nasty!

[The pilum bends after hitting a target.]

Well, it is true that the Pila do bend after hitting a target but not all will hit leaving some intact to be thrown back. If the bent ones were thrown back I don't suppose that there was great accuracy with them.

[Why the bachelor requirement for early legionnaires?]

If you signed up for military duty at 17 you are not going to be married at that age, most men did sign up at this age I believe and between wars they would return to their father's farms and eventully their own with their families etc. Until the state took control of their farms and made slaves work their fields leaving the whole family homeless.

[Regarding the Gladius]

Etruscan blades?

[Names of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae??]

What a tragic fall from history.

[Roman Cohort versus a Macedonian Phalanx.]

Well, the Roman style of warfare came after the Phalanx as the Romans could use their speed and mobility to break up the Hellenes. Over flat terrain the Roman would win all day long as it has the space to manouvre but if they were faced with the phalanx defending a bottle neck then the phalanx' longer reach would win.