The Mark Morrow Roman Pilum is the most historically accurate, detailed reproduction of the most lethal spear ever created.

For hundreds of years the Roman Pilum gave the Roman Army superiority over its enemies that was unmatched by the spears and javelins of its enemies.  I own two replicas, the first, a Windlass Steelcrafts Pilum, made in India. the second, an elegant Mark Morrow Roman pilum. Which is about as close to the real weapon of antiquity that  I can imagine.  After buying that first pilum and trying to get it to resemble the real weapons reportedly used by Roman armies, and then comparing it to the Mark Morrow pilum, a sense of how the pilum was really used by Roman legions can be gained only by the American replica.

How the pilum was used according to legend

In close order combat the Roman infantryman typically used three weapons that made him superior to nearly all his opponents, the scutum, or heavy Roman shield, the pilum which was a heavy javelin or throwing spear, and the short sword or gladius. 

Each legionnaire carried one or two pila, which he threw at his enemies from a range of up to 30 meters.  The primary purpose of the pilum was to take an enemy soldier out of combat one way or the other– either by killing or wounding him or by forcing him to throw away his shield. This made him an easy victim for the Roman soldier’s short sword.  The pilum employed a long metal shank of soft steel or iron with a small barbed point.  Throughout a time period of roughly 300 b.c. to 400 a.d. the pilum evolved into a number of incarnations. But in general there were two major types, the tanged and the socketed pilum. 

But it was during the time of Marius, around 100 b.c. that the pilum was transformed into a weapon that would typically bend upon piercing an enemy shield. Or striking the ground. When the long metal shank would break off from its wooden handle section. The Romans achieved this by replacing the metal rivets fastening the wooden and steel components of the pilum together with a single wooden pin. This pin would break upon impact.  By this time the concept was to make it extremely difficult for the enemy to recover pila that had been thrown at them.   So that they could throw them back at the Romans. 

The Windlass Pilum

I received my Windlass Pilum from Cult of Athena at the Banglamung Post office which is just two miles from my Thailand condo.  This was the first time I was to receive a weapon through the mail. 

It only took five minutes to retrieve the package from the post office.  I then took my pilum back with me on my motorbike to my condo.  Windlass had shipped the pilum had been shipped in two pieces.   The first was the handle which was something like 1 1/8th inches in diameter and two and a half feet long.  The other was the wooden tang to which a steel shaft and point had been fastened.   A hole had been drilled into the bottom part of the tang into which I inserted the handle. 

The first thing that I noticed about the Windlass Pilum was that the steel shaft and point had not been painted.  It had been left in the white which made it appear to be pretty inauthentic. 

Moreover, it would easily rust in Thailand’s humid climate.  But I remedied that by spray painting the pointed shaft with flat black paint.  The second thing I noticed was the absence of a metal butt spike on either the wooden handle or in the package. 

The third thing I noticed was that the spear did not appear to be absolutely straight.  I tried to straighten the pilum by taking the handle out of the tang and reinserting it several times.  I finally resorted to having our Thai maintenance man take the pilum to a welding shop. But the welding shop was unable to straighten it to my satisfaction. 

After going to a number of web sites to read more about pila I discovered that the 1.25 inch diameter was too thick to be historically accurate.  While realizing that it was far too point heavy due to the steel shaft being fourteen inches too long. This did not compare well with other pila which have a shorter steel shaft and point.  Obviously Windlass had designed it as a thrusting or stabbing spear. And not as a javelin a legionnaire could throw at his enemies.

I then took the tang with the steel pointed shaft assembly to a welding shop. Which cut 14 inches off the shaft from the point down.

At Home Pro I bought a five foot long wooden dowel of smaller diameter than the original had been. 

The trouble was that the dowel’s diameter had been measured in centimeters and millimeters. Whereas the original handle had been sized in fractions of inches.  When I got the dowel home it fit too loosely into the hole in the pilum’s wooden tang. 

Cutting the dowel into a length that more accurately reflected the dimensions of real Roman pila was no problem.   The difficult part was trying to get it to fit tightly into the hole.  I even stuck a piece of a rag in to make it fit more tightly.  I even used silicon.  Finally I drilled two holes through the tang and into the wooden dowel that I had inserted into the hole.  I got the whole thing to fit more tightly together. But it was still not quite up to what it should have been. 

Nevertheless, I now had a pilum that seemed to have the right dimensions. As well as the steel pointed shank, the wooden handle, and the diameter of the handle.

And then I finally got the Mark Morrow Roman pilum which completely spoiled me. 

Once again I studied study pila on the internet. Where I found pila that used much thinner steel shafts than the thick steel Windlass shaft. So my altered Windlass pilum wasn’t authentic at all.  It was time to call Mark Morrow.

“I can send a pilum out in two sections”, Mark told me on the phone.  “Otherwise it would cost you more to have me ship it in one piece than the pilum is worth.  Which is a real shame considering it’s just a hundred and fifty dollar item.” The problem was a six foot long pilum could not fit into a box that could be shipped at a reasonable rate.  Mark could ship the pillum in two pieces. Which would save me a lot of money. But I’d have to rivet the thing together again. 

I did not have the equipment to do it.  I did not have the skill. And if I took it to the welding shop I didn’t think the result would have satisfied me.  After all, Windlass pilum had shipped me a pilum with a crooked shaft.   I had to have a perfect replica of a real Roman pilum on my wall.  So I paid a lot of extra money just for shipping the Mark Morrow Roman Pilum

The Mark Morrow Roman Pilum

For someone of Mark’s skill as a blacksmith creating a $150 pilum is not really a big deal. Not when you measure it against the skill it takes for him to create a samurai sword. To the same high standard traditional Japanese sword smith’s made create their artistic masterpieces.  But Mark shipped me a very elegant replica of a historically accurate Roman pilum. 

The Romans had created their pila to be thrown with accuracy and precision.  Mark had sent me a perfectly balanced pilum. 

The wooden handle came to me unvarnished. But still utterly smooth so that it felt good in the hand.  But the shaft and point were so much smaller in diameter than the Windlass pilum.  Coming out of the wooden tang to which it had been riveted, the shaft was angular.  But the thickness of the piece kept getting smaller the closer it got to the point.  Mark had transformed four flat angular edges into a  thin tubular section of steel.

The Mark Morrow Roman pilum so well balanced that it felt lighter than it actually was.  While the point was much narrower and longer than I had expected. Or what I had seen in so many pictures.  With a longer narrow point there was no questioning this pilum’s ability to penetrate. 

The Mark Morrow Pilum Shows Me

First—-that the pilum was all about maximum penetration.  The Roman gladius with its very wide blade would open up large wound channels. Whereas the Roman pilum could only make small holes in whatever it pierced.  This meant that spears with much larger points would kill much more quickly. Because they could engage more arteries, organs and other vulnerable parts of the body. 

Second–But that’s the entire point.   The Mark Morrow Roman pilum has a narrow shank especially where it’s close to the point. 

Because if the shank and point were to drive into a piece of plywood it’s going to drive deeply through it. And due to the narrow hole it makes it’s going to be much more difficult to pull it out of the plywood. This is not the case for a spear with a much broader point. That makes a hole larger enough to be easily pulled out.   And–a spear that cannot penetrate armor or a shield is useless. No matter how large a wound channel it’s capable of making. 

Third—You don’t want pila that break off as soon as they enter an enemy’s shield. 

  You want the enemy warrior to be encumbered to the max by having the  entire pillum protruding out of it. Not just the steel shaft.  Using a fragile wooden peg to secure the steel shaft to the tang is not wise. Because an assembly that easily breaks will leave the enemy soldier free to use his shield. This is due to the much lesser weight sticking out of the shield when the long handle breads off.

Fourth—The idea of purposely making pila to bend easily by using soft steel makes no sense whatsoever.  First….the concept behind this myth is that one ends up having the ground littered up by bent pila that the enemy cannot throw back at the Romans.  

The victorious Romans then gather up their own weapons which the legion’s armorer’s then re-bend to straighten the steel shafts.  My Windlass pilum was slightly bent and even a skilled welder could not straighten it to my satisfaction.  One can conclude then that once a steel shaft is bent it’s going to be very difficult to straighten it enough so that it can be re-used with any degree of accuracy.  Not only that, but just imagine 5000 or 10000 pila being unleashed at an enemy which commences a second charge the next day or even one hour after he’s initially repulsed.  Can we expect the legion’s armorer’s to straighten all those bent pila this quickly?  It is much more logical to expect the victorious Roman legionnaires to scamper out into the battlefield to recover their own weapons after initially repulsing the enemy. 

Fifth—It’s not necessary to use soft steel for pila just so that an enemy can’t find the time to pull a pilum out of his shield. 

Let’s figure that each legionnaire carries two pila.  He throws his first pila at his enemy at say 25 meters, tops.   The enemy starts going down from thousands of pila descending into their ranks as the Romans come within twenty meters range.  At ten meters out the Romans unleash their second volley of pila.  By the time the enemy is going down from this second volley the Romans have unleashed their short swords from a range of five meters. 

Now let me ask this question.  When will the enemy have the time to pull the pila from his shields? And which hand  will use use?  Will he drop his weapon from his right hand if he’s right handed to attempt to pull out a protruding pilum?  Will he drop his shield and calmly try to extract the pilum sticking through it with his hand while he steps on the shield with his foot?  Or will he throw his now disabled shield onto the ground while trying to defend himself as best as he can with his weapon?  Soft steel, hard steel, it’s not going to make any difference whatsoever, that shield has been rendered useless in that very small interval it takes for the Romans to come within range of their short swords.

Sixth–Roman infantry also had to fight off enemy cavalry with their pila.  In at least one commentary Julius Caesar is reported to have ordered his soldiers to go for the eyes of their enemies with their pila.  

I am assuming he meant the eyes of the horses the enemy cavalrymen were riding.  In situations such as these having a pilum that would easily bend or break would be a complete liability. 

Conclusion— It is a myth that the Roman pilum was made from soft steel so that it would bend to keep the enemy from throwing it back at the Romans. It’s also a total crock that pila were designed to easily separate at the tang where the steel pointed shaft is fastened by rivets or wooden pegs as described in such legends.  The Roman pila were primarily designed to be thrown which meant that the Roman infantry had unprecedented firepower that usually greatly exceeded that of his enemies.  

This meant that if a Roman legion had 5000 heavy infantry, there were 5000 short ranged artillerymen since every man was armed with longer ranged weapons than swords and similar short ranged weapons.  In those days when archers comprised a relatively small percentage of one’s total army, this  was equivalent giving nearly every soldier a bow with the caveat that his range was restricted to twenty-five meters.  Coupled with the unique ability of the pilum to penetrate the shields of an enemy and to make them useless, this usually gave the Roman army an incalculable advantage over its enemies unless they were similarly equipped.

You will also want to watch my video the Roman Gladius (short sword) on the Jack Corbett Video Channel