Like the Penguin, I am fascinated by 'coincidence' and, like reading Borges, how one thought seems to stimulate other thoughts which may be considered as almost 'non sequitors'; bearing only a very tenuous relation to the previous thought. It is no doubt a quirk of the human brain's 'wiring', brought about by the incessant struggle of our remote ancestor's to survive to breed, but is interesting nonetheless.
I have recently been re-watching the excellent HBO series 'Rome' on DVD. Whilst it is largely fantasy woven around some documented history ('documented' in this context revolves around how much credence you give Suetonius, Cassius Dio et al), it does seek to portray a historically accurate picture of Rome as a city of three distinct classes, patricians, plebs and slaves, and the wildly differing notion of morality in a pre-Christian society. (The fact that Roman morality in the period immediately before and after the Christian era lends a prodigious scope for nudity, simulated sex and gory violence would be an added bonus for the series' producers. HBO would be one of the first 'networks' to display naked breasts, and nipples, on TV in the USA in the ground-breaking 'Dream On' in the early nineties. The fact that the 'major' networks in the US have failed to latch onto this obvious 'viewer-catcher' illustrates just how much they are beholden to the morals, and purchasing power, of the 'moral minority', who far from being moral, preach a dogma based on hate; the very antithesis of Jesus' message.)
Be that as it may, the first few episodes had me running to Wiki to see if I could find the origin of 'testudo'; the strategy of interlocking shields to form a wall and a roof to protect legionaries from missiles. I failed to find an explicit explanation, and so I offer my own.
As far as I can determine, proto-testudo began with the Greeks. Greek hoplites were armed with 'greaves' to protect the shins, leather or bronze 'armour' to protect the upper body, a helmet of bronze, a short stabbing sword ('xiphos'), a shield ('aspis') and, most importantly a 'fuck-off' lance ('doru' and as much as 14 feet in length) with which to spear the opponent. (It was seldom thrown). The hoplites would advance, carrying their shields before them in a proto-shieldwall, thrusting their immensely long spears at the enemy; the hoplites in the second, or even maybe the third rank, could also thrust at the enemy over the tops of the advancing first rank due to length of the spears. The aim was to progressively force your opponents, shield to shield, backwards until the opposing line 'broke'. Obviously, there are ways around this. Push harder, or cavalry around the flanks to disrupt the wall or, as was demonstrated at the Battle of Senlac Hill, lure the shield wall to break of its own accord. Harold must have been devastated when the left flank of the wall went after the Norman cavalry in what was but a simple ruse. Discipline was all!
The Roman legions effectively borrowed this tactic and enhanced it. It is not known whether the Greeks rotated the 'front line' as a matter of course, although it is likely that they did when the occasion warranted it; as at Thermopylae, for instance, when the Spartans and other Greeks held off a force of Persians at least ten to twenty times their number . However, amongst the legions, no-one was expected to spend more than a minute or two in the front line before being relieved by the second rank. In this way, the legion's 'phalanx', often up to twelve ranks deep, could be assured of 'freshened-up' troops at the 'sharp-end' of any attack; one front rank having up to ten or fifteen minutes to refresh themselves before once again entering into the affray.
Not that this distanced them totally from defeat. Arminius (Hermann) managed to lure three whole legions, between 15,000 and 20,000 men, into a two pronged trap in the Teutoburg forest which few managed to survive. Three eagles, standards of the legion, were captured which led, according to Suetonius, the Emperor Augustus to proclaim: 'Quintili Vare, legiones redde! Quintilus Varus, give me back my legions!' Moreover, Hannibal plundered and raped Italy for years during the years of the Republic, winning many battles, before he was finally defeated by Scipio Africanus in Africa. Rome could be defeated, although never for long; before it would rise up from its ashes, much like the phoenix of legend and crush its enemies with the power of, probably, the first, professional, well-trained, disciplined army ever to have existed, although that laurel may well go to Alexander of Macedon (and the rest of the known world).
'Testudo' is mostly portrayed in movies as a response to massive archer attack but this was unlikely to have been the reason for the development of the tactic. Most of the tribes which the Romans sought to conquer did not have archers in any numbers until much later in the Empire and the tactic would probably have had little value in the field. Where it came into its own was in the siege. Troops could largely advance to the wall unmolested, albeit very slowly (try marching in a testudo, you certainly cannot run if you want to keep the shield above you locked tight to its neighbours) and would therefore been in a position to ram or chip away at a gate to gain an entry point.
What I found weird was that in investigating 'testudo', I unearthed a news item from the Ukraine in 2014, which found a similar tactic being used and one which I had never seen in any riot where riot shields were deployed, although it seems so obvious to the launch of 'missiles' from the opposing faction, many of which were targeted at the rear ranks. Maybe the Met ought to provide a background military training in tactics, although a testudo is not likely to counter Molotov Cocktails, which have been a feature of recent UK riots! (I use the term 'riot' loosely, as a riot would tend to imply a largely unco-ordinated response to events. The not-now-so-recent 'riots' as a response to the killing of a black man (am I allowed to say 'black man'?) in the UK were clearly anything but a spontaneous eruption of anger!) The Ukranian police were clearly improvising, the officers did not form into any kind of formation, but I have no doubt that some protection was afforded.
It is altogether a little strange how the world wide web seems to mirror my own brain; perhaps I should have been a nuclear physicist or an independent computer consultant like Tim Berners-Lee. The notion of how, with little effort, except with your wingtip to click the mouse button, one could end up researching 'testudo' and find oneself in the depths of pig shit and industrial farming methods never ceases to amaze and fascinate me; it's so easy to get lost in the vast accumulation of knowledge that exists 'out there'! For those of a sensitive disposition, do not follow this link which just illustrates where I ended up: I warned you!
Gross, isn't it?
Well, that's just the tip of iceberg to the effects of 'industrial farming'. Vegan, anybody?
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