{{Short description|Lead-weighted dart for infantry}} {{Italic title}} [[File:ML - Plumbate.jpg|thumb|Four {{lang|la|plumbata}} heads from the 4th or 5th century AD, found in Enns, Austria. The wooden shafts and fletching have decayed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plumbata |url=http://www.roman-artifacts.com/Military%20Accessories/4th%20Century%20Plumbata/Plumbata.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816060908/http://www.roman-artifacts.com/military%20accessories/4th%20Century%20Plumbata/Plumbata.htm |archivedate=16 August 2016 |accessdate=10 August 2017 |website=Roman artifacts}}</ref>]]
'''{{lang|la|Plumbatae}}''' or '''{{lang|la|martiobarbuli}}''' were lead-weighted throwing darts carried by infantrymen in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were used to inflict damage on enemies at a distance before engaging in close combat. Roman soldiers in some legions carried {{lang|la|plumbatae}} inside their shields, which allowed them to have ranged weapons similar to arrows, according to Vegetius in his 4th-century military treatise {{lang|la|De re militari}}.
The {{lang|la|plumbata}} consisted of a lead-weighted head attached to a wooden shaft with fletching, which allowed soldiers to throw them effectively over long distances. The Roman work {{lang|la|De rebus bellicis}} and the Byzantine manual of war {{lang|grc|Strategicon}} confirm their use and describe variations, such as the spiked {{lang|la|plumbata}} ({{lang|la|plumbata tribolata}}). Archaeological finds in Wroxeter and elsewhere confirm their description and use.
==History== [[File:Plumbata.JPG|thumb|upright=.2|<div style="min-width:8em">An example of a ''plumbata'' head. The complete weapon would have the head fixed on a wooden shaft with fletching.</div>]] The first examples seem to have been carried by the Ancient Greeks from about 500 BC onwards, but the best-known users were the late Roman and Eastern Roman armies. The earliest and best written source for these weapons refers to a period around 300 AD, though the document was composed around 390–450 AD.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/index.php#b100 |title=''De Re Militari'', Book I: The Selection and Training of New Levies |access-date=2013-05-01 |archive-date=2021-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506193525/https://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/index.php#b100 |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{Quote|text=The exercise of the loaded javelins, called ''martiobarbuli'', must not be omitted. We formerly had two legions in Illyricum, consisting of six thousand men each, which from their extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of these weapons were distinguished by the same appellation. They supported for a long time the weight of all the wars and distinguished themselves so remarkably that the emperors Diocletian and Maximian on their accession honored them with the titles of Jovian and Herculean and preferred them before all the other legions. Every soldier carries five of these javelins in the hollow of his shield. And thus the legionary soldiers seem to supply the place of archers, for they wound both the men and horses of the enemy before they come within reach of the common missile weapons|author=Vegetius|title=''De re militari''|source=1.17}}
A second source, also from the late 4th century, is an anonymous treatise titled ''De rebus bellicis'', which briefly discusses (so far archaeologically unattested) spiked ''plumbatae'' (''plumbata tribolata''), but which is also the only source that shows an image of what a ''plumbata'' looked like. The image shows what looks like a short arrow with a weight attached to the shaft. Although only later copies of the original manuscript exist, this is confirmed by the remains which have so far turned up in the archaeological record.
A third source is the late 6th century ''Strategicon'', written by the Byzantine emperor Maurice, who wrote about the ''martzobarboulon'', a corruption of its Latin name ''martiobarbulum''.
''Plumbatae'' etymologically contain ''plumbum'', or lead, and can be translated "lead-weighted [darts]". ''Martiobarbuli'' in this translation is ''mattiobarbuli'' in the Latin, which is most likely an assimilation of ''Martio-barbuli'', "little barbs of Mars". The barb implied a barbed head, and Mars was the god of war (among other things).
Archaeology gives a clearer picture of ''martiobarbuli''. The reference listed has an illustration of a find from Wroxeter identified as the head of a ''plumbata'' and a reconstruction of the complete weapon: a fletched dart with an iron head weighted with lead. The reconstruction seems entirely consistent with Vegetius' description.
War darts were also used in Europe later in the Middle Ages.
==See also== {{Portal|Ancient Rome}} * Lawn darts * Khuru (sport) * Roman military personal equipment
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References==
===Primary sources=== * Anonymous, ''De Rebus Bellicis'': On matters of war. * Maurice, ''Strategikon'': On Strategy. * Vegetius, ''Epitome Rei Militari'': Epitome of Military science.
===Secondary sources=== * Barker, P., ''The plumbatae from Wroxeter'', in: Hassall and Ireland 1979, De Rebus Bellicis, BAR Int. Ser., vol. 63 (Oxford), part 1, pp. 97–9. * Connolly, Peter, ''Greece and Rome at War'', Greenhill Books, 1998, {{ISBN|1-85367-303-X}} * Degen, R., Plumbatae: Wurfgeschosse der Spätantike, in: Helvetia Archaeologica 1992, vol. 23, pp. 139–147. * Ireland, Robert, ''De Rebus Bellicis'' (anon.), in: BAR International Series 63 (Oxford), part 2. * Dennis, George T., ''Maurice's Strategikon. Handbook of Byzantine military strategy'', University of Philadelphia Press 1984, {{ISBN|978-0-8122-1772-8}}. *Keszi, Tamás: ''Plumbata, the Roman-Style Darts. A Late Antique Weapon from Annamatia.'' Hungarian Archaeology 2018. Spring, 21-32. https://www.academia.edu/36798885/Plumbata_the_Roman-Style_Darts._A_Late_Antique_Weapon_from_Annamatia * Milner, N.P., ''Vegetius: epitome of military science'', Liverpool University Press 1993, {{ISBN|0-85323-228-8}}. * Völling, T. (1991): ''Plumbata - Mattiobarbulus - Martzobarboulon? Bemerkungen zu einem Waffenfund aus Olympia'' in: Archäologischer Anzeiger, pp. 287–98.
==External links== {{commonscat|Plumbatae}} * [http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEquipment-spear.html Image of remains of a plumbata] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060618184027/http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/archive/arma/contents/text/technica/veg1.htm Vegetius Book I] * [http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/ Vegetius in translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421095339/http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/ |date=2020-04-21 }} * [http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/makeplumbata.htm Modern reproduction of a plumbata] * [http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQicLqu5zIfCkMrV9XIpKMyWvhARVZUbreHsxqjnijeksfASEtB photo of modern Bhutanese style 'Plumbata']
Category:Roman personal weapons Category:Ancient Roman legionary equipment Category:Throwing weapons Category:Byzantine military equipment