Rome was built with the edge of the sword. They carved out their empire with a ruthless military machine that laid low all before them. Perhaps the greatest reason for Roman military success was the willingness to innovate. The army was constantly evolving its fighting forces as it expanded its borders or defended itself against a rising tide of foes. From the aggressive phalanx in central Italy to the border forts on the edge of the frontier, Romes legions were in a constant state of evolution.Roman Army: Mythic Past and Early RepublicCapitoline She-Wolf, Rome, c. 5th century BCE. Source: Musei Capitolini, RomeFrom its beginnings in the mythic past, Rome was at war. Romes legendary founder, Romulus, waged constant battles against neighboring city-states in an effort to expand Roman territory and influence. This era is shrouded in mystery, with fact and myth inseparably mixed. From what we can glean from the early sources, the military of the early kingdom seemed to be ad hoc militias, farmers, and tradesmen putting down their tools and picking up spears to fight in limited campaigns against nearby enemies.The first real attempt at organizing the Roman military was during the reign of King Servius Tullius. The army was first organized into a cohesive unit, which was divided according to wealth and social class, as well as what equipment the soldier could afford. They fought as hoplites, no doubt inspired by Greek colonies in southern Italy. These infantrymen were equipped with bronze or linen armor breastplates, face covering helmets, and a circular shield called a hoplon, which gave the soldier their name. Their main weapon was a spear, and the hoplites fought in a dense block of men called a phalanx. With their shields overlapping, the phalanx was a solid wall of steel, bronze, and flesh that attempted to push aside the enemy.The Romans also used other troops, such as skirmishers who tried to break up the enemy phalanx before the main body closed in. Cavalry was also limited in number and reserved for the richest citizens who could afford to own a horse.The Birth of the LegionsReproduction of Early Republican Armor. Source: Museo Storico-Didattico del Legionario RomanoEarly in the 3rd century BCE, the Roman Republic was reorganized into a new fighting force, with the first mention of a unit called the Legion, or legio. Meaning levy, it originally meant all of Romes citizens under arms, but eventually evolved into a unit of around 4,200 infantry men and 300 cavalry. The legion was made up of a number of classifications of soldiers based on age and property ownership. Equipment was provided by each soldier from their own finances, so there was a wide variety of types and quality of gear found in any army of the mid-Republic. Cavalry was drawn from the wealthiest soldiers who could afford a horse. They were equipped with a long spear, sword, round shield, helmet, and armor. They rode without stirrups, as these had not been invented yet and, in all likelihood, charged the enemy at a trot. The bulk of Romes forces, however, were infantry.The first ranks of foot soldiers were made up of the youngest and poorest of the men in the army called velites. These soldiers were equipped with a bundle of javelins, a sword, and a small round shield. They also wore wolf pelts as a way for commanders to easily identify them in the confusion of battle, which may also have had a totemic or religious significance. The velites acted as skirmishers, advancing in front of the main body of troops, throwing their javelins to disrupt the enemy before falling back.The first main line of battle was made up of men in their late teens to early twenties called the hastati, which translates to spearmen, though they did not use this weapon. The name was possibly a holdover from an earlier time. They were equipped with a pair of javelins called pilum, which had long iron shafts attached to a wooden handle. When thrown, the pilum would pierce the enemys shield easily, hitting the man holding it. Even if it didnt cause a serious injury, the iron shaft would bend, fixing it in place, making the shield cumbersome to use and the pilum impossible to throw back.Bent Pila heads, pugio dagger, gladius blade, and sheaths, Roman, c. 1st century BCE. Source: British MuseumThey were also equipped with a short stabbing sword called the gladius, which was used in close quarters. For defense, the hastati wore a wide array of armor, from mail made from interlocking metal rings to scale armor to bronze plates strapped to the chest with leather strips. They were also protected by conical bronze helmets.The second line of troops consisted of the princeps or leaders, though they were not the first ranks, and again was probably a name from an earlier time in Romes history. They were similarly equipped to the hastati, but were made up of older men in their late twenties and thirties, the prime of life, who had accrued the necessary wealth for better equipment than their younger counterparts. In battle, they were the principal offensive arm of the army. After the hastati ground down their enemy, they advanced and delivered the finishing blow to the exhausted enemy.The third and final line was manned by the triarii, or thirds. These were the oldest and most experienced soldiers in Romes army and werent expected to see combat, being wealthy land owners, politicians, and others deemed too valuable to risk in the front lines. Instead, they acted as a reserve, only being deployed in times of crisis, their experience hopefully bringing order to a chaotic situation. Unlike their compatriots, they were equipped with long spears instead of pilum.Replica of Roman Armor and Weapons circa 400 BCE. Source: University of AucklandAll of these ranks were divided into centuries of sixty men each, and the hastati and princeps were grouped into pairs of centuries called a maniple, or handful. These were tactically flexible units that were easier to maneuver and deploy than the cumbersome phalanx. This time period also saw the origins of dedicated officers, the centurion to lead them, the optio as second in command, and the signifer who carried the centurys standard. These positions carried over into later evolution of the army.There were a few modifications over the centuries, but this basic method saw Rome through the existential crisis of the Punic Wars and the conquest of much of the western Mediterranean. By the end of the 2nd century BCE, it became apparent that Romes reliance on part-time militiamen was no longer adequate for the needs of the state. The famous Roman general Gaius Marius (c. 157-86 BCE) instituted the so-called Marian reforms, completely overhauling the Roman Army.The Legions Become ProfessionalThe Triumph of Marius, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtMariuss most important policy was removing the property requirement to serve. Any Roman could join, serving 20 and later 25-year terms of service paid for by the state. To ensure uniformity, the recruits no longer had to provide their own equipment but had their weapons and armor subsidized at state expense. The militia force raised for a specific campaign was replaced by a standing professional army whose only occupation was warfare.The maniple system was also overhauled. Centuries of 80 men would be placed in groups of six, called a cohort, and ten cohorts would form a legion. The class and age distinction made in the earlier army was done away with, with men grouped in each unit without regard to wealth or experience. Like their predecessors, they would be primarily heavy infantry and were equipped with a large oblong and later rectangular shield called a scutum, an open faced helmet, pilum, gladius, pugio, a type of dagger, and armor, most often in the form of mail, but also lorica segmentata, made from overlapping bands of steel.Glass Relief Fragment First Century ACE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtEach legion also contained specialist troops, such as artillery crews who were trained to use various types of ballistae and catapults designed to hurl stones or large bolts long distances. Cavalry were armed with lances, javelins, large shields, mail armor, and the spatha, a long, straight bladed sword. Cavalrymen were drawn from citizen recruits or foreigners who made up the auxilia. The auxilia were non-Romans who served in specialist roles, such as cavalry or archers, and would gain their citizenship after their term of service. This basic structure served Rome from the tumultuous late Republic to the farthest extent of the Empire, from the shores of the British Isles to the sands of the Middle East. But Romes military would undergo one final major change before its fall.The Army at the End of the Roman EmpireRoman Ridge Parade Helmet, c. 4th century CE. Source: Museum of Vojvodina, SerbiaIn the waning days of the Empire, the once mighty legions were but a shadow of their former selves. The most drastic change was the operational role of the army, which switched from conquering foreign lands to maintaining the border, and later holding back the inevitable tide of barbarian invasions. In light of this defensive posture, the legions were reorganized broadly into the comitatenses and the limitanei.The limitanei were stationary border troops, who manned garrisons at the extent of Roman boundaries. They had multiple roles, including customs duties, border security, and driving off small-scale raids from the ever emboldened barbarians outside of the Empire. These were comparatively poorly paid troops who were not expected to be able to withstand a major invasion.The comitatenses made up the field army and, unlike their limitanei counterparts, did not have a fixed base of operations. They moved from crisis area to crisis area as needed. They were more highly paid and of a higher status as well. Instead of conquering new lands, the army fought defensively, the limitanei throwing back small scale raids, and providing early warning of larger incursions. Should they not be able to withstand an invasion, they would send word, and the comitatenses would arrive in force to drive off the enemy that was already weakened by the limitanei and their forts. Through this strategy of defense in depth, the Romans of Late Antiquity were able to hold their borders with fewer troops, forestalling the end of the empire.The equipment of soldiers of the late empire changed significantly from their heyday. After over a century of civil wars, foreign invasions, and economic turmoil, Rome was no longer able to provide the same quality of weapons and armor it had in previous centuries. The legionnaires still utilized large, oblong shields and mail armor, but the helmet, once made from a single piece of metal, was now made in the Intercisa pattern, using two separate plates joined together by a metal band, as well as spangenhelms, which were made from three or more plates forged together, which is much cheaper and easier to produce. There is also some evidence for the appearance of nasal guards, which had not been utilized before in Roman helmets.Vercingetorix Throws Down his Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar, by Lionel Royer, 1899. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe pilum was still used, but more conventional javelins and plumbata, weighted lead darts, were becoming more common. These darts were lighter, could be thrown further, and could be clipped to the back of a shield for ease of carrying. The gladius, the short stabbing sword that carved out Romes empire, was replaced with the spatha, a longer-bladed weapon once used by cavalry troops, as were spears.Even with these reforms, it was not enough to stem the inexorable decay of the Empire, and Rome would crumble under tides of barbarian invasions. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman war machine, whose origins stretched to the mythic past, whose mighty legions laid low all who opposed them, now fell silent. An echo of their might lived on in the Eastern Roman Empire, which would rule for another thousand years.

The evangelization of the Americas is the historical process through which Spanish colonizers converted Indigenous people to Christianity, beginning with Christopher Columbuss 1492 arrival in the Americas. The expansion of Christianity had the support and sponsorship of the Pope and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, who believed that every colonizer had a right to the land in exchange for evangelizing the Indigenous workforce.Christianizing the Americas: Early StepsThe First Landing of Christopher Columbus in America by Dscoro Tefilo Puebla y Toln, 1862. Source: Museo del PradoEuropean colonial powers believed that their societies were more developed than the rest of the world and that they were responsible for civilizing people they saw as barbarians or savage communities. In this regard, conversion to Christianity was the primary tool used to not only instruct conquered peoples in a new faith but to force them to adapt to the new civilized society. The evangelization of the Americas was, therefore, not only a religious process but also a political, economic, and cultural one that facilitated the project of colonialism.For centuries before Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, Christianity had been at the center of European societies, and it was intrinsically related to the development of civilization, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, characterized by fighting against non-Christian cultural and religious expression, including Islam and Judaism.When Columbus arrived in the Americas, a Franciscan friar named Pedro de Arenas celebrated the first mass in the newly discovered lands, specifically on the island of Guanahani. This was the first island where Columbus landed, and the Taino Indians already inhabited it. The island was renamed San Salvador and is now part of the Bahamas.Columbus had met Arenas in Spain, where he asked him to be his confessor and to join his adventure. Building the first altar for worshiping the Christian God in these lands, Arenas initiated a long-lasting process of evangelization of the Americas, which accompanied the imposition of Spains colonial societal structures and systems of beliefs.Portrait of Alexander VI by Pedro Berruguete, 1492-1503. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Dominicans and Franciscans were the first missionary orders that arrived on the American continent, followed by the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, the Order of Saint Augustine, and the Jesuits. In spreading Christian knowledge, the priests and friars who traveled from Spain to the Americas studied Indigenous peoples cultures and languages, resulting in multiple historiographic chronicles that account for the first years of the conquest of the Americas.In 1493, Pope Alexander VI had issued a papal decree called Inter Caetera, where he authorized Spain and Portugal to own the lands of the Americas and enslave its inhabitants. This, together with Jesuit beliefs that the world was close to its end and Boniface VIIIs papal bull of 1302 declaring that nobody could be granted salvation without baptism, pressured the arriving missionaries to provide the sacrament to as many Indigenous people as possible. Missionaries firmly believed that any Indigenous person could become a Christian.When the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, learned about the Indigenous communities living in those faraway lands, they found in Columbuss travels an opportunity to spread Christianity through cultural and religious indoctrination. In 1524, the Spanish Empire created an administrative organ in charge of the conquest of the Americas called the Council of the Indies, which a priest often led. This illustrates how the church was closely related to the project of colonial expansion and its cultural, economic, and military facets.Statue of Fray Bernardo by Manuel Fux, 1888. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOn Columbus second trip, in 1493, another Benedictine friar, Bernardo Boyl, accompanied him with other priests recruited in Seville. Boyl had been assigned as a pontifical delegate by Pope Alexander VI for the New World mission. However, after unsuccessful trials of mutual understanding with the Indigenous communities of La Espaola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and clashes of opinions with Columbus, Boyl returned to Spain one year later. He left behind three Franciscan priests, one of whom was called Jernimo Ramn Pan, known for being the first European to try to learn the local Indigenous language to facilitate the transmission of Christian knowledge.Expansion: Christianity in Central and South AmericaCathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Incarnation, Archdiocese of Santo Domingo by Julio Gonzlez, 2007. Source: UNESCOThe island of La Espaola was where the first Franciscan and Dominican priests crafted a plan to expand their missions on the continent. Churches were built in the capital, Santo Domingo, and later, priests traveled to neighboring Antilles islands.The first diocese in the Americas was created in Santo Domingo in 1511, followed by Puerto Rico the same year and Jamaica in 1515. In 1513, the diocese of Panam was created, known to be the first ecclesiastical center on the continent, from which missionaries traveled to Central America and towards South America.After the Catholic church settled in Central America and expanded to Mexico, facilitated by the arrival of Hernn Corts in 1519, more than a decade later, in 1531, Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru, home of the Incas. By 1534, when two priests, Vicente de Valverde and Juan de Sosa, arrived, Pizarro had captured Cuzco. De Valverde was assigned as the first bishop of Cuzco, the first diocese of South America. As a result, a convent was built over the ruins of an Incan religious temple dedicated to the adoration of the Sun, Qoricancha.Detail of The Victory of Cajamarca portraying the bishop of Cuzco, Vicente de Valverde, unknown artist, 1650. Source: Wikimedia CommonsLater, in 1541, the Diocese of Lima was founded, which became an archdiocese in 1547 and was the leading Catholic center of South America. From there, missions expanded to Quito, with Fray Hernando de Granada leading the evangelization of Ecuador and Colombia. In 1546, the diocese of Quito in Ecuador opened, and another in Popayn, Colombia, was founded. Later on, the church traveled southward to what are today Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile with Diego de Almagro and the priests Antonio Sols, Antonio de Almansa, and Cristbal Molina. In 1552, the Diocese of La Plata was founded, becoming an archdiocese in 1609.While Catholicism was expanding across the lands colonized by the Spanish crown, the Portuguese evangelized the territories of present-day Brazil. In 1551, a diocese was founded in Salvador de Baha, which became an archdiocese in 1676, ruling over the newly founded dioceses of Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Mariana, and Sao Paolo. Through Brazil, the Franciscans, Capuchins, and Jesuits reached and expanded further into South America, particularly in the Amazon Rainforest.Evangelizing Among the Indigenous: TacticsPhoto of the archaeological site of Tlatelolco in Mexico City showing the Church of Santiago Tlatelolco, built over Prehispanic Mexica sacred sites, Greg Schechter, 2012. Source: Wikimedia CommonsWhen Europeans arrived in the Americas, every aspect of Indigenous religious adoration practices was considered pagan and a threat to Christianity. Because of this, Spanish conquistadors and friars destroyed Indigenous sacred places and monuments. For instance, the first masses took place in Mexico in Indigenous temples. Moreover, it has been found that churches were built by reusing the remaining stones from Prehispanic Mexica temples or Teocallis. To facilitate conversion, crosses were anchored over the ruins of old sacred sites so places of adoration would not change, but instead, foreign beliefs, images, and symbols were imposed.Because of linguistic differences, catechesis was challenging. Towards the middle of the 16th century, the Council of Trent, convoked by Pope Paul III between 1545 and 1563 as a response to Protestantism, forbade the translation of the sacraments to Indigenous languages, which prompted missionaries to teach the Spanish language to the locals.During the 16th century, most indigenous peoples evangelization happened through the encomienda, an economic system that granted colonists the right to Indigenous lands and their workforce. Under this model, Spanish conquerors were able to impel Indigenous people to forced labor in exchange for protection. The colonizers had the duty of instructing them in Christian beliefs and the Spanish language, as requested by the crown. It was the encomenderos who were responsible for not only evangelizing Indigenous people, who, after conversion, could participate in viceroyalty society, but also to condemn and punish any remaining expressions of pagan cultural, religious, or linguistic practices.Illustration of an encomendero abusing an Indigenous person from the Tepetlaoztoc Codex, c. 1550s. Source: British MuseumIn places the system of encomiendas could not reach because of hostile environmental and geographical conditions, missionaries would explore terrains to reach more isolated indigenous tribes. When this was the case, a rudimentary chapel was built on-site, probably after violent exchanges between the missionaries and the local people. If successful, an Indigenous community would be dispossessed of their native beliefs and converted to Christianity. Around the chapel, converted Indigenous people grouped, forming what was called a doctrina. A doctrinero was the priest in charge of teaching the Christian doctrine, many times using reinforcement methods of punishment and torture.Photo of a doctrina in Schica, Colombia, by Carlos Martnez, 2010. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe excesses of violence exercised by Spanish conquistadors and missionaries were well documented by Friar Saint Bartolom de las Casas, who in 1552 published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, a collection of manuscripts sent to Prince Philip II of Spain.Another method used by the Jesuits, Franciscans, Capuchins, and Dominicans to evangelize the American Indigenous communities was the reduccin. These were small population centers where nomadic Indigenous people congregated. These small villages had independent governmental systems led by missionaries and aimed to protect people from the encomenderos.The Christian Faith in Latin America and the Caribbean TodayPhoto of Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations in Popayn, Colombia, Junta Pro Semana Santa Popayn, 2024. Source: SemanaCatholicism has accompanied the development of Latin American societies and cultures through to the present. Catholic beliefs and practices are today intrinsic to peoples culture, expressed in yearly celebrations and holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and many saints commemorative events. The church also shaped how Latin Americans conceive moral and social institutions such as family, marriage, and reproduction. On the continent, most Catholic believers are concentrated in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia, while Protestantism and Evangelism have gained relevance in Brazil and Venezuela.Catholicism has also influenced Latin American architecture, literature, and music. For instance, when visiting South and Central American cities and villages, it is common to see a church in the central square, a remnant of colonial urban planning that placed Catholicism at the physical center of social, religious, and political life.Photo of Bolvar Square in Bogot, Colombia, showing the Primatial Cathedral of Bogot at the right. Source: Visit BogotHowever, syncretisms have been present alongside the historical development of the Catholic faith in different regions and amongst different communities, in particular, due to the transatlantic slave trade and the subsequent introduction of African religious practices.During the 19th century, the relationship between people and Catholicism changed. Independence and consolidation of modern states separate from the Spanish Empire accompanied a paradigm shift in how people now conceive of religion as an individual choice when it became a facet of life no longer bound to civil rights. After five centuries of Catholic domination, this has caused the Church to lose power and believers.Many Catholics have converted to Protestantism in countries such as Brazil, where Catholic representation dropped from 95% to 61%, and in Mexico, falling from 99% to 81% between 1970 and 2014. A decrease in the Catholic population is even more pronounced in some Central American countries, such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile, where non-believers increased rapidly.

Hollow Knight Silksong has released to rave reviews from players. Everyone is excited to get their hands on Team Cherry's sequel after a seven year wait that felt closer to seven decades. Generally, they like what they see. The atmosphere is exemplary, the art is beautiful, and the gameplay is mostly great. However, there are a few issues with difficulty. Silksong is hard as nails, especially compared with its predecessor. That's why fans were so excited to find a secret cheat that lets you change the difficulty. There's just one catch...Read the full story on PCGamesN: You can change Hollow Knight Silksong's difficulty after all, and here's how

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Yes, Flying Snakes Do Exist – Sort OfWhen you picture something gracefully gliding through the air, your mind probably jumps to birds, bats, or maybe even flying squirrels. But we’re here to tell you, if you look up at the forest canopy in South Asia and the Indonesian archipelago, you might just see a snake take flight.The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe...

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