Talk:Maniple (military unit)

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Military history: Roman & Byzantine / Classical

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Maths isn't right

The army was organized into 3 lines during the Roman Republic, the hastati, the principes, and the triarii. Each of these lines was divided into maniples of 120, 120 and 60 men, respectively. Thus, the legion proper consisted of about 3,000 men. Umm... 3 x (120+120+60) = 3000? Something seems a little off here.... -FZ 11:49, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Centuries were left out I think. This needs some work, but my refs are not handy right now. Stan 14:53, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

it isnt 3 times the 120 120 60, it is 120 plus 120plus 60 and that equals a maniple. 120+120=240+60=300

300 men in a maniple. see, 120,120,60 equals 3. 120=1 120=2 60=3. those are the three rows, veterans most likely the 60, principles second 120 and rookies the first 120.

but in a surprising turn of events you kind have calculated the legion, but it would be 10 maniples in the entire legion. equalling 3000. Each Legion having 3000 would mean 10 maniples because 300 in each would have to make 10.

diagram

A diagram of the unit will probably explain it a thousand times better than words would. --ToyotaPanasonic 07:08, 22 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fate of Maniple

I'm not sure it's at all clear why the maniple disappeared. If it is clearly as a result of the Marian reforms need sources citing that; sources I am familiar with state it is unclear when and why the maniple was abandoned. Statement that "Romans provided only legionaries (sword and shield)" is also confusing. By Romans, is the article referring to the city of Rome or more broadly to Roman citizens regardless of era? As written, this is clearly not the case, as Roman citizens in the legions certainly were not so uniformly armed even in an individual era. For example, in the late Empire there are examples of cohorts fighting with hasta in shield wall formation, such as the Battle of Strasbourg.

Recommend the article be thoroughly revised, possibly with comments on difficulty of reading into ancient sources for reliable data. As it is, the article presents a debatable and murky issue rather neatly... Macboots 23:33, 17 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What IS it?

This article doesn't actually define a maniple at all. Lots of interesting stuff, but no definition other than "a tactical unit of the Roman legion". Perhaps it's been edited out? Rambler24 (talk) 17:33, 8 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've found it, with careful re-reading. I've also found that the definition was included in the summary, and has been edited out.Why? Rambler24 (talk) 23:46, 11 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems from some talk higher up the page that it was indeed edited out. I only came here incidentally, becaude I read elsewhere that centuries were at one point succeeded by maniples. The context suggested that maniple were larger than centuries. I just wanted to know how big a maniple was; no answer. My guess is the answer's in the history and the references; I'll have a look over the next couple of days.

MrDemeanour (talk) 20:24, 18 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I want to add that it would be good if someone uploads a schematic drawing of how the maniple system works, because I don't have a clear image of it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CoincidentalBystander (talk • contribs) 17:52, 13 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]