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Spotlight on the Roman Pilum: The pilum (plural pila) was a throwing spear commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about two meters long overall, consisting of a iron shank about about 7mm in diameter and 60cm long with pyramidal head. The iron shank may be socketed or more usually widens to a flat tang, this was secured to a wooden shaft. A pilum usually weighed between two and four kilograms, with the versions produced during the Empire being a bit lighter. It had a diameter of about 7.5mm. Some versions of the weapon were weighted by a lead ball to increase penetrative power. Recent experiments have shown pila to have a range of 98 feet (approximately 30m), although effective range of about half.
Legionaries of the Late Republic and Early Empire often carried two pila, with one sometimes being lighter than the other. Standard tactics called for a Roman soldier to throw his pilum (both if there was time) at the enemy just before charging to engage with his gladius. Some pila had small hand-guards, to protect the wielder if he intended to use it as a melee weapon, but it does not appear that this was a common tactic.
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