# Why the ham-fisted grips and flimsy weapons on medieval paintings?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-ham-fisted-grips-and-flimsy-weapons-on-medieval-paintings/653343>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 19, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-ham-fisted-grips-and-flimsy-weapons-on-medieval-paintings/653343 "2013-03-19T11:59:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-ham-fisted-grips-and-flimsy-weapons-on-medieval-paintings/653343/21 "2013-03-21T17:37:26Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Javelins were used only by the earliest legions and by auxiliaries in later times. By the third century AD, when George was around, the only spear carried by the legions was the _pilum_.

This is wrong. The _pilum_ was a javelin. Late-period Roman legionaries carried either the _verutum_ (a throwable spear) or the _[spiculum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiculum)_ (definitely a javelin - Vegetius says it is the same spear formerly called the _pilum_.). They also carried several _[plumbatae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbata)_, which were sorta javelins, sorta darts.

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