Roman spears

thumb|upright=1.25|Man with a shield throwing a javelin thumb|upright|Javelin thrower. Bronze, Laconian style, third quarter of the 6th century BC

100px|thumb|right|Pilum The pilum (; : pila) was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by either a socket or a flat tang.

according to the Gospel of John, lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross

cold weapon

The verutum, plural veruta (), was a short javelin used in the Roman army. This javelin was used by the velites for skirmishing purposes, unlike the heavier pilum, which was used by the hastati and principes for weakening the enemy before advancing into close combat. The shafts were about long, substantially shorter than the pilum, and the point measured about long. The verutum had either an iron shank like the pilum or a tapering metal head. It was sometimes thrown with the aid of a throwing strap, or amentum.

A spiculum is a late Roman spear that replaced the pilum as the infantryman's main throwing javelin around 250 AD. Scholars suppose that it could have resulted from the gradual combination of the pilum and two German spears, the angon and the bebra. As more and more Germans joined the Roman army, their culture and traditions became a driving force for change. The spiculum was better than the old pilum when used as a thrusting spear, but still maintained some of the former weapon's penetrative power when thrown.thumb|Illustration of a spiculum