The Lanciarii | Elite "Special Forces" of the Roman Legions (Recently discovered!)

Missile infantry played a vital role in ancient warfare. While decisive battles were ultimately won in brutal hand-to-hand combat, melee infantry often relied on the support of archers, javelin men, and slingers. These ranged units provided covering fire, countered enemy cavalry, and pursued fleeing foes, shaping the course of many engagements. In the case of the highly effective Roman army of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, this role was typically entrusted to non-Roman auxiliaries, warriors recruited from conquered tribes across the empire, valued for their distinct fighting styles and tactics. On the other hand, Rome's citizen soldiers took pride in mostly serving as heavily-armed melee infantry, forming the backbone of Rome's formidable armies. However, thanks to a series of remarkable archaeological discoveries, evidence has emerged of a previously unknown class of legionaries that existed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the Lanchiari. This was a more specialized class of legionaries that took the role of missile infantry into their own hands, and were employed to annihilate even the most feared cavalry of the ancient world with ruthless efficiency. As a channel dedicated to deep analyses of the Roman army, we are very proud to present everything we know about this long-forgotten unit. These data brokers then sell or publish your personal information, including names, social security numbers, home addresses and more, exposing you to a wide range of dangers from scams to identity theft. What Incogni does is keeps you safe by reaching out to these data brokers on your behalf and conducting repeated requests for your personal data to be removed. And whenever a new record pops up on a data broker site, Incogni will automatically take care of it, handling any objections from data brokers and keeping you updated on the process. Their yearly subscription is especially advantageous, giving you full protection for as long as you use the service. And they have given you, our dear viewer, a 60% discount with our code MILITUM. So click the link in the description to take full advantage of their offer, and take back your personal data today. As the name implies, the Lanciarii were those who carried a lanquea as their primary weapon. Despite its similarity to the modern word lance, a record from the 1st century AD belonging to the Ala Sebociana, a cavalry unit stationed at Carlisle, records two different types of lanquea. The first was a lanquea pugnatoria, a simple cavalry lance, while the other was a lanquea subarmalis, a throwing javelin that was smaller and different in style to the pilum, the standard throwing javelin of the legionaries. It is this latter weapon that the Lanciarii would become feared for. The first known mention of it comes from Arian's Tactics Against the Alans, which was written in the 130s AD. In it, the Roman senator recreates the hypothetical deployment and maneuvers that his army would have carried out in the event of an invasion of Alans, a tribe that mostly fought on horseback. He describes his legionaries as follows. They should deploy in eight ranks, and their deployment should be closely ordered, and the front four ranks of the formation must be of spearmen, whose spear points end in thin iron shanks. The following ranks should be of the javelineers. The ninth rank behind them should be the foot archers. Notice how Arian unusually describes his javelinmen to be among the eight ranks of legionaries, thus implying that they are the same unit class, just fulfilling different roles. As I stated before, javelinmen, similarly to the archers in this example, would be a completely different branch of the army, but in this case they seem to be called legionaries themselves. Arian explains that the first four rows of legionaries would use their pila as spears rather than missiles. This was because pila were long enough to be used in close combat, and too cumbersome to be effectively thrown in a tightly packed formation. Instead, the task of throwing weapons fell to the rear four ranks, who wielded javelins or lankea. These would be smaller and lighter than the pilum, allowing soldiers to carry more of them and hurl them further. In contrast, each legionary was typically limited to carrying only two pila. Cassius Dio also mentions a similar formation for both the armies of Severus and Niger during the Battle of Essos in 194 AD, with heavily armed infantry in the front and lankea-equipped javelinmen in the back. These formations would later become the basis for the phalanx of both Caracalla and Alexander Severus, that both Cassius Dio and Herodian describe. By extension, it would also be a predecessor of the late Roman Fulcum formation, that effectively combined the testudo-like defensive capability formed by the front ranks with the ranged firepower of javelinmen and archers in the rear. Complementing these references are mentions of legionaries who sometimes fought in specialized and fully javelin-armed contingents when the need for it arose. One, Flauoleus Cordus, a legionary of the 14th Gemina who died before 43 AD in Magontiacum, seems to have been one of them. Being depicted without any armor on a tombstone was an artistic convention of the time, but the weapons that they used tended to always be quite realistic. For citizen legionaries, this was almost always a square shield and short sword. However, here we see something very unique. Despite being a legionary, Cordus is carrying a thin javelin between his fingers, which seems too small to be a pilum. He is also equipped with an unusual oval shield. A similar depiction can also be observed on one of the reliefs on the entrance of the fort commander's quarters in Magontiacum, where a lightly armed legionary rushes forward from the main body of the legion. Cassius Dio also mentions a detachment of 1500 legionary javelin men being among the three legions sent from Britain to Italy to protest against Perennis, Commodus' Praetorian prefect in 185 AD. This is all of course only the earliest evidence of legionary javelin men, but if we fast forward three decades to the Severan period, we can find concrete archaeological proof of the existence of javelin-carrying soldiers within the Roman legions, who called themselves Lanciarii. Legionary Lucius Septimius Viator is one such man. His tombstone reads the following, To the spirits of the underworld, Lucius Septimius Viator, of the Pannonian nation who lived 35 years. Lanciarius and the 2nd Parthian legion, he served 16 years. His well-deserving inheritors made this. Just like Lucius, legionaries Aurelius Mucianus and Aurelius Zoilus were buried in the city of Apamea in Syria, and are also depicted carrying their weapons without armor, which was a Severan funerary tradition. In their right hands, they are all holding a bundle of javelin-like weapons, which is indicative of their role. In fact, Mucianus seems to be using a quiver-style bag to carry them into battle, which further eliminates any possible resemblance to the pilum. All three of them belong to the 2nd Parthica, the favored legion of Emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, who kept it as a strategic legionary reserve stationed in Alba near Rome, and frequently deployed it to the east to take part in their Parthian wars. The specialist status of Lanciarii is also reflected by the need to undergo further specialized training, as was the case with Mucianus, who upon his death was listed as a discense lanciarius, or trainee, despite having served for 10 years as a legionary. To the spirits of the underworld, Aurelius Mucianus, former apprentice of Lanciarius of the 2nd Parthian legion, belonging to the 9th century of the pilus prior who served for 10 years and lived for 30 years. His great tentmate Septimius, duplicarius of the aforementioned legion, well-deservingly made this. In fact, both Viator and Zoilus also seem to have been seasoned veterans with 16 and 20 years of service behind them, implying that Lanciarii were elite units who were hand-picked among senior legionaries and further trained for their new role. It is clear from the tombstones that by the 3rd century AD, the Lanciarii had become elite soldiers within the legions, who could be organized into specialized units if the need arose. However, not much is known of their exact role on the battlefield, but they are mentioned in a testimony from the battle of Nisibis in 217 AD in the aftermath of Caracalla's Parthian War. It's possible that some of our heroes may have very well been present in this very conflict. But the disposition of the Roman units was orderly and careful, with cavalry and Moorish soldiers on either flank and the spaces in the center, the gaps between the units of heavy infantry, were filled with light-armed troops capable of making marauding forays. Because other specialized auxiliary units never fought within legionary formations, we can deduce that the light-armed troops that Herodian was describing were Lanciarii, who would be expected to operate as independent groups, to either surge forward to skirmish or support a threatened sector, before safely retreating behind the heavy infantry. In this way, they would prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Rome's orderly formations. The implications of this evidence is astounding, as it hints at a development in the style of fighting of Roman legionary units, who used to fight in versatile and fluid formations that needed just one unit type, the classic legionary heavy infantrymen that we all know. But by the 3rd century, these legionary formations seem to have become more rigid, even necessitating a separate, more fluid and lightly armed component for support. So let's examine what this would look like. The Battle of Nisibis started in the earliest hours of sunrise. After saluting the rising of the sun, the Parthians threw themselves against the Roman lines. So they sustained the attack and fought back. The barbarians inflicted heavy casualties with their showers of arrows and with the lances of the cataphracts, heavily armed cavalry, mounted on horses and camels, as they wounded the Romans with downward thrusts. But the Romans easily had the better of those who came to hand-to-hand combat. While the front ranks were engaged, the lanciarii took on yet another specialized role. They used this time to lay caltrops and other sharp devices into the sand behind them. When pressure from the Parthians grew to a boiling point in the front ranks, the legionaries would carefully retreat in good order and lure the enemy into a reckless pursuit through the traps, with their vision obscured by the dust created by the movement of thousands of men and animals. What followed was a gruesome sight. The horses and camels trod on them, particularly the camels with their soft pads, and fell to their knees and were lamed, throwing their riders from their backs. As long as they are mounted on horses and camels, the barbarians in those regions fight bravely. But if they dismount or are thrown, they are very easily captured. They cannot stand up to hand-to-hand fighting. And if they find it necessary to flee or pursue, the long robes which hang loosely about their feet trip them up. It would be at this point that the lanciarii would rush out from behind the heavy infantry and take advantage of the disorganized and injured Parthians. Seizing the moment, they would massacre the helpless enemy with javelins or hand-to-hand combat, as they would be highly trained in both these aspects. This continuous back and forth would mark the first two days of battle. But Romans and Parthians would return to their camps at sunset after sustaining heavy casualties, but would each claim victory regardless, and resume the carnage the next morning. By the third day, the whole plain would lay covered with dead men and mounts. At some points, the piles of bodies would even hamper the attacks on both sides. But as soon as the dead were carried off, the attacks would resume in earnest. It was finally after three days of heavy fighting that both sides agreed to open negotiations. Unbeknownst to both empires, this would be the last time they would face each other on the battlefield. The Battle of Nisibis goes to show that centuries of fighting have taught the Romans how to counter their Parthian nemesis, and the Lanciarii were the natural consequence of this long process of adaptation to the Parthian style of warfare, in which they certainly proved their ruthless effectiveness. All evidence of the Lanciarii disappears until the reign of Diocletian in the 4th century, when they are mentioned as an elite bodyguard unit and part of the Sacer Comitatus, the emperor's personal military force. By now, their elevated status and reputation made the name Lanciarii closely associated with elite late-Roman units, even though none of these still fought with just javelins. So the name Lanciarii became an honorary title, rather than a description of their role, and in status they would be seen as just one step below the famed Praetorian Guard. By the 5th century, the Notitia Dignitatum, a document which records all units of the late empire, lists several with the name Lanciarii serving in very respectable detachments, along with the unique shield designs they had. Four of them were Comitatenses, mobile field units. Two of them were Pseudo-Comitatenses, field units who were promoted from the frontier troops, while three of them were Palatini, the elite household units that accompanied the emperor. The fates of these units unfortunately remains unknown, but we can rest assured that as time goes on and new evidence emerges, historians will tirelessly continue to piece everything together and unveil even more fascinating details about this mysterious unit of the Roman army. A very special thanks to our Patreon supporters for making this video happen. There are many other lesser-known Roman units that we can cover, so let us know if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more. Make sure to watch our many videos on the different aspects of the Roman army. For now, stay tuned, and I hope to see you in the next one.