Left Handed Romans?
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- Were Roman legionaries allowed to use the gladius with their left hand if they were left-handed people? And what about Gladiators?
Gladius was one Latin word for sword, and is used to represent the primary sword of Ancient Roman foot soldiers.
A fully equipped Roman legionary after the reforms of Gaius Marius was armed with a shield (scutum), one or two javelins (pila), a sword (gladius), often a dagger (pugio), and, perhaps in the later Empire period, darts (plumbatae). Conventionally, soldiers threw javelins to disable the enemy's shields and disrupt enemy formations before engaging in close combat, for which they drew the gladius. A soldier generally led with the shield and thrust with the sword. All gladius types appear to have been suitable for cutting and chopping as well as thrusting.
Gladius is a Latin masculine second declension noun. Its (nominative and vocative) plural is gladiī. However, gladius in Latin refers to any sword, not specifically the modern definition of a gladius. The word appears in literature as early as the plays of Plautus (Casina, Rudens).
Modern English words derived from gladius include gladiator ("swordsman") and gladiolus ("little sword", from the diminutive form of gladius), a flowering plant with sword-shaped leaves.
Gladii were two-edged for cutting and had a tapered point for stabbing during thrusting. A solid grip was provided by a knobbed hilt added on, possibly with ridges for the fingers. Blade strength was achieved by welding together strips, in which case the sword had a channel down the center, or by fashioning a single piece of high-carbon steel, rhomboidal in cross-section. The owner's name was often engraved or punched on the blade.
left handed gladiators
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as a leftie im offended that you think of us as "cool mate"
koukin1928 yhea we are normal people too we arn't cool m8
I'm offended as well! I'm a "hot mate" *wink*
knight westcoast you also wear power armor
MinutemanSam arleast liberals arnt dumbasses
bitchimmadog roofgurr are you sure about that?
I'm offensive and I find this left handed
Don't worry...he will get his male karma.
wat @@230mps
lol.
"Cool m8."
--Metatron
Gabriel Smith 2016
@Artemis Ares Are you a time traveler?
The progressive moose.
@Artemis Aren, you're the first one to reply to a comment before it was made! :O
"Open quotation cool m8 close quotation"
Fighting one-on-one would be an advantage for a left handed soldier since the left handed minority are more used of fighting against the right handed majority than vice versa.
That was especially true during the middle ages where fortresses had their spiral staircases built so that a right handed soldier coming from below would have difficulty swinging his sword. But in more ancient times when the shield was essential in formations and fortified positions weren't like the mighty stone castles of later times it was problematic having a left handed soldier, left handed knights were considered fearsome if I'm not wrong.
Just look at martial arts. In mma and boxing some fighters could find a southpaw stance hard to fight against from the “usual” orthodox.
It’s the exact opposite in actual combat orthodox fighters hate southpaws
Left handed people learn easier, faster and more precise.
totally right, 2 finns think that too seperate from each other and when we talked it we laughed
I feel reassured now that the Metatron has stated that my left-handiness is "cool"
same
it's funny how humanity transform from
- OMG you are Left handed what a disgrace!
to
- OMG you are Left handed how can you do that?
Alice Burke indeed
*picks up rifle*
"America belongs to the righthandeds!!!!!"
I know. They are controlling the gubment.
Peter Smythe I'm left handed prepares to drop nuke f8 me m8
Who tf is left handed still? Grow tf up.
In German we say "Zwei linke Hände haben" "Having 2 left hands" when someone is clumsy or not very skilled.
in dutch we have the same thin (twee linker handen hebben) g, we also use 'haning 2 left legs(twee linker voeten hebben) if you can't dance.
The same in polish: "Mieć dwie lewe ręce". Also: "Wake up on the left leg" - "Wstać lewą nogą", when you have bad day. "Left" - "lewy" in polish also mean illegal or fake, "right" - "prawy" - legal, fair, honest.
GermanCurl In the USA we say someone has two left feet if they are clumsy
In Brazil we say "tem dois pés esquerdos" "having two left feet" when someone sucks at footbal...
GermanCurl
Also in spanish we say "Tiene dos pies izquierdos" wich means that someone has two left feet when that person is a bad dancer or unskilled in sports.
My dad used to tell me about his troubles growing up in the 30's as left handed boy. My Italian/naturalized US citizen grandma forced him to be right handed because she believed left handed people were evil. My dad would get hit if he did anything left handed around her, so he eventually became ambidextrous.
My Italian born grandma was a very interesting woman. I remember her best for her delicious cooking and the frequent letters she wrote to me that always contained money. I would write her "thank you" letters which she enjoyed, so it was a win-win. I also recall that she thought anyone under 350 lbs was "skinny" as far as she was concerned: in dire need of food. What a great woman she was.
+Empire sacks
Really? I am willing to take your word for it, but I am a little surprised. I guess I ought not be surprised at all since bad ideas never go away. (Commies and Neo-Nazis are my proof of that rule.)
Ray Giordano Your grandmother sounds awesome
+Propaganda Gerbil
If I had only loved her as much as she loved me. I had just joined the US army and was in basic training when she died. She wanted to tell me something, but not over the phone.
I tried to get "compassionate" leave so I could see her, but regulations say that ONLY a relative could ask for it, NOT me. I told my relatives as much, but they wouldn't ask the Red Cross for reasons unknown to me.
I begged my drill sergeant for leave, but there was nothing he could do. I SHOULD have gone AWOL, but curse me, I didn't. I was too dutiful to an organization that did not deserve such loyalty.
So I will be haunted, until the day I mercifully die and see her again, by what it was she wanted to say to that was so important.
350 lbs, damn, here I am around 250 and trying to shed some belly off of me.
The same happend To me with my grandpa, in the french army.
As a left handed advocate for left handed people, I love this video! ;) no need for the disclaimer. "Cool mate" is the best we could hope for.
Yeah I don't think there is anything bad said about left handed people. I mean it just explains why left handed people had to learn how to use weapon in right hand for tactical point of view.
it doesn't matter if you're right handed or left handed, if you keep practising with one hand or the other you'll become good with it. For example, when I type on the keyboard I use 5 fingers of my left hand and only 1 finger of my right hand even though I'm right handed because that's how I have always typed.
Years ago, Matt Easton surmised a similar thing about the late Middle Ages. In battlefield lines, a left hander would have to fight right handed, but in duels and self defense, a left hander would wield his sword however he wanted.
Clicking the video brought me here
Piyush choudhary savage :)
gladomi jog on with your k m8
Damn dude thats too mainstream
Piyush choudhary Did you click with your left or right hand?
Constantine Smith
I used my hand but not my left or right
5:35 That shield on the right made my day! XD
I am left handed, so i guess i'm offended ? *insert angry rant about discrimination and stuff*
HOW DARE HE
Its funny how you posted this video, just earlier today I was complaining to my right handed friends about the desks in the university being all "right handed" desks (you know what I'm talking about yeah?) Everyday life is an annoyance for us but the manner in which people stare at lefties and how they ask "Omg! How do you do that?" Is ever so satisfying, ahaha!
Oh and "Cool M8" left back at ya.
Being a southpaw is awesome in combat and in combat sports.
everyday life, however...fuck
How so?
Scissors, anything with an edge on it, bumping your right handed neighbors at the dinner table or fellow students while taking an exam, getting ink or graphite all over the pad of your hand when writing because we have to push the pen across the paper instead of simply dragging it. Expensive tools and instruments, even in 2017 VERY few things are ambidextrous. Its a right handed world we're basically just told to muscle through slight inconveniences, albeit a large amount of them as opposed to just being able to use simple utencils without hassle.
Just be ambidextrous like me and get the best of both worlds and more :P
98% of people are not that lucky and have extreme difficulty doing even simple tasks with their "off hand"
I was being sarcastic.
I am told it is possible for right and left handers to learn how to use their off hand with a lot of practice and upkeep
I am offended by your disclaimer, specifically by the word disclaimer.
As a very proud lefty I can say that I agree with what the Metatron says. In formations Lefties do cause a problem. The only way they could be somewhat useful is to put them all on the right side of the formation (Then their shields would be on the outside). Most places where lefty warriors are more prevalent is societies that have more skirmish or individual style of fighting like Gaelic and Native American societies. I'm going to make a video about this hopefully soon.
As a left hander growing up in a right handed family and world, I became ambidextrous but also have found mixing up my numbers more over time and getting left and right confused in direction. I even write most of my numbers starting from bottom to top (2,3,7,8,9)
Hey Raff, since you're long haired, why don't you make a video about long hair during european history?
greetings from Finland, this point is a bit off topic but I was visiting turku castle here near where i live, the point i noticed was that all round staircases in the towers are built so that defenders, Standing higher on the stairs could swing swords with right hand. keep up the good work mate:)
So what you're saying is, you hate left-handed people?
haha good one
one consequence of being a lefty is that you end up learning to adapt to the many things in life that are designed for righties. Makes you more adaptive than most. Means the Romans most likely could easily train lefties to conform to using the right, but still have some ability on the left as your example of the soldier who lost his hand may indicate....
In Tagalog, the word adultery is similar to left. Adultery = Pangangaliwa, Left = Kaliwa
could they not have made whole maniples or even legions full of lefties? this would not only solve the problem but potentialy be a slight advantage, since most enemy soldiers were probably more used to fighting right handed enemies
During the invasion of Rome what did the Gladiators do? Did they fight for Rome, Themselves, or the Gauls?
Metatron I love your intro. Ive been watching your channel for a bit over a year. The uptick in quality is so great to see, You are the most fun and interesting historical youtubers and I cant wait to see you get even better!- from a fellow Italian
Thanks again for some knowledge,
I used to accuse my nonno of being 'sinister', he was left handed :D
metatron I haven't watched u in like a week and u have changed but u made a good change I enjoy ur vids even more now keep it up with the good work
It's funny the strange prejudices people used to have. Even in my Grandmothers generation, when she was a kid in school the teachers would force her to write with her right hand even though she was born left handed. More recently than this a coworker of mine in his 50s told me when he was a kid teachers would take children's pencils out of their left hands and make them use the right. People thought left handedness had something to do with the devil or some dumb thing. God people are stupid, I hate people so much. Not just because of this, but everything.
Great video as always Metatron.
Part (but probably not all, prejudices being what they are) of the reason may be because writing as we know it was designed for right-handed people, from the slope of the letters to the direction we write. A left-handed person is much more likely to smudge the writing, as the side of the left hand rubs over the ink. The right hand rubs the page ahead of the pen or pencil...then by dropping down to the next line, misses the previously written line completely. This was admittedly a bigger problem a few hundred years ago when using quill pens and having to blot with fine sand or leave a page to dry for a time before handling it, but still somewhat relevant in more recent times. Sometimes it's a practical consideration - it's not always about superstition (although sadly, in this day and age, sometimes it still is.)
YourPalAL Hell yeah. Proud devil associate here.
aussiebloke609 well there were other means to write so writing was inconvenient for a left handed person mainly when he was using ink
0NBalfa0 The same thing happens with ballpoint pens. Of course that it is to a way smaller degree.
I wonder how the Semitic styles of writing (right to left) developed because the main advantage of left to right is that the writing hand has little risk of smearing the ink because it is on the opposite side. Leonardo da Vinci wrote right to left not just as a code but because he was left-handed and it was more conveneinet that way.
Cuneiform is a special case beause the scribes held the tablets not as we do paper but 45° turned (^ not - ).
Another great podcast 👍
I would have to agree with you stance on the subject, as a lefty myself we are often expected to adjust to existing right hand systems all the time (computers, tools, cars, clothing etc), you kind of get used to it. Given the Romans reliance of relativity complicated group tactics this would make the most amount of sense to have everyone working together.
Great video as always
Does anyone know how negativity of left handers started in asia?
박지호 they wipe their ass with their left hand
True but that's only in south asia I believe. And they only do that because they believe right hand is superior to left, which goes back to my original question
박지호 well I have no idea than
probably similar to how it started on everywhere else. Left hand is minority and people hate minorities. For east Asia, westernization may or may not play part.
I think some moms would try to teach the kid to become at least being able to do something with the right hand. The public system out their is just not always neutral or left-handed friendly. e.g. The gun in the military. The table in the university. The side where people put the fork. The strokes of the calligraphy (left handed people usually have bad hand writing cuz the characters are not design for their convenience) ... so on.
The learning part may be frustrated. And Moms may be harsh sometimes. (It would be worse if she did not notice the kid is left handed) But as negative... I don't think so. I don't think people will discriminate left-handed people just because they are left-handed, or even joke about it like what's done on Ginger. I think some right handed people may just shed some tears for the inconvenience throughout their(lefties)lives...
Good day, Raff. Just wanted to add a point of my own. I think you've probably missed that when forming a testudo, the flanks should be covered to make a decent protection. One of the ways to cover the right flank is to have the rightmost (is it even a word? (but anyway, I ment the one that is at the very right of the formation)) column switch hands and hold the shield in the right hand. And to me it seems a logical thing to have your left-handed soldiers on the right flank even if in other circumstances they fight right-handed, as they were taught to.
Or maybe, just maybe the legionaries were all trained to be good at fighting both left-handed and right-handed for such a situation.
Good video, anyway. Cheers
I had read somewhere that Left handed soldiers would be formed into a separate unit together, consisting of only left handed soldiers, to avoid the training and gap issues. The source (can't remember which book) mentioned that they would be deployed to cover the flanks, as a pseudo-auxiliary force. Would this be possible? Or simply speculation.
I'm half Italian, from my mom's side of the family. I was born left-handed. When I was a baby, my Italian grandmother and great-grandmother (straight out of Calabria) forced me to become right-handed. I lived with them and my mom said, that when was a baby and picked up my spoon or my crayons with my left hand, either my nan or my great-grandmother would snatch my spoon, crayons, etc, out of my left hand and stick it in my left hand. My mom said, that nothing ever came between me and my food, and I began using my right hand to feed myself. I'm still right-handed. But, when I need strength, like to open a jar, I still always use my left hand.
Metatron, I have a question about swords / sabres & cavalry.
Although this may be easily explainable & I may be thinking too much into it, I can't find it anywhere on Google as to why mounted troops would carry their sword / sabre mounted on the horses saddle into battle. I'd rather wear my scabbard / sheath at my side, on my waist in case I fall off my horse, or something happens, I won't have a blade without it's case, & a place to actually hold it. What if you were a lancer, & your horse was shot out from under you before you could reach your sabre that was attached to the saddle? Was it for common carrying purposes, or was it because the scabbard / sheath would spur the horse accidentally when it hit it. I'd love if you could either respond or make a video on this! -- THANKS!
try drawing your sword when its bouncing all over the place and hitting your horse (thus telling the horse to go faster)when you're on your horse galloping and you (let's say for imaginative purposes ) had your riffle jam on you .
if it's on the horse and fitted correctly then it will not massively keep hitting the horse ,lets you carry another side arm on your side(small thing like a hand gun ,12 inch or so) ,also it will not weigh you down and so you can use a heavy longer sword .
people did mount horses with swords on their side ,and it was common ,but why not let your warhorse give you an extra weapon ?
what about the hoplites on the far right of the phalanx, how did they stay protected? a more in depth video on that, and how the two sides would maneuver to protect them would be great.
niall tormey Cavalry would be at the flanks. Ideally, the quincunx would be long enough to match or even supercede the enemy.
I would have just assumed the lefties were placed on the farthest left side.
I've heard that phalanxes had a tendency to creep to the right when advancing, because every soldier was trying to take cover from the shield of the man on his right. If that is true - it may just be a myth - a fight between two phalanxes would have the right flanks of the opposing formations be slightly past the opponents left flanks, in which case it wouldn't be problem in most battles the Greeks fought.
Apart from that, light troops could be placed on the flanks along with cavalry and I suppose they could try to anchor their flanks on impassable terrain.
In the Macedonian phalanx the flanks were protected by a special type of soldier with a larger shield while the pikemen had small shields attached to their left shoulder (the sarissa was a two-handed weapon only). The older Greek hoplite phalanx was extremly vulnerable to flanking on the unprotected side.
Was there a special name or title for this soldier? I find that pretty interesting.
Slight aside on this, it might've been worth considering a bit of handedness in general. I am left handed when I write, but I do virtually everything right handed. There could've very well been left handed writers who were more adept at combat with their right. Handedness is an interesting concept, and something that is debated on its impact on humanity. I didn't know it went as deep as Roman warriors though.
Excellent topic, excellent presentation. Thoroughly enjoying the content and keep enlightening the world!
As for the linguistic side it’s the same in french. The right hand used to be called the “dextre” and the left hand the “gauche” i think. Now the right hand is “droite”. Gauche (still the same word today) is also used to say someone is clumsy. More commonly we use “adroit” and “maladroit”. Adroit meaning having a good dexterity and mal(meaning bad or evil)-adroit meaning clumsiness.
I’m sorry if someone already pointed that out already. Also correct me if I am mistaken as my knowledge about words is limited, but i like this subject :)
picture the phalanx 2nd or 3rd row back how would you hold a shield in the right-hand to protect it wouldn't that'd be a good spot for the left-handed Soldier
One other thing for left handed legionaries is that it's possible that they could put them on the edge of the formation. Protecting the right edge of the tetsudo allowing easier protection of the flank and probably not in the front rank, but a second rank on the right edge would give advantages there.
I heard that Caesar created Left-Handed Legion... Is that a Myth?
I mean if you create entire formation out of Left handed guys it cancels out that problem of the hole in formation and advantage could be creating discomfort to the enemy who is used to fight against right-handed soldiers...
This made sense for me so I never questioned this Fact/Myth that I heard about Caesar...
The story also included the explanation that Caesar himself was left handed and knew that left handed people tend to think differently so instead of forcing his left-handed soldiers to fight with right hand he formed this left handed legion would cause even more discomfort to the enemy by fighting differently not only because they fought with left hand but also because their mindset was different.
That also made sense for me as we now know that this actually scientifically proven that left and right sides of the body are controlled by different hemispheres of the Brain.
So, is this story false???
There was a limited amount of legions, and there certainly weren't enough qualified lefties to completely fill one, not even speaking about keeping it supplied with manpower. Caesar certainly didn't have the resources to create new legions or even significantly modify the ones at his disposal.
The Roman training system was heavily formation-based, and trained people to fight right-handed in formations. There was no lefty formation training available, as people could learn to use the sword in the off hand well enough. This means that left-handed formations would perform with subpar efficiency, as there would have been virtually no lefty drillers available to train the men.
Left-handed soldiers might have been gathered together on very rare occasions, such as to perform as specialized shock troopers when storming a fortress or something like that, but I've never heard of dedicated left-handed units.
Thanks for the reply
Rome had always except early replublic and punic wars. Rome always bad 21 legions so about 120,000 troops rounding. I doubt caesar would have enough legionnaires who were left handed. However whats the chances of being left handed probably 75% right handed.
"Cool m8" That made me laugh, I love your channel
nice jacket buddy great topic and great video as usual :D
As a Dacian descendant I request you to show the people our greatness and ferocity in battle! Jokes a side I would really apreciate you doing a video on the Dacians and Thracians that Thrived in rome as generals and such and how a very few even ruled Rome. Thank you! Però é veramente una cosa di cui vado abbastanza fiero avere sangue dacico e romano p.s. Nel nostro inno lodiamo anche Traiano ;) penso che tu abbia capito di dove sono.
My own father is left handed but had forgotten he was until he had a school reunion where someone told him they remembered him specifically because he was always getting in trouble for trying to write with his right hand. At the time he was in school, there was no acceptance of the idea of being left-handed, so they just told him he was wrong and should be right handed.
I imagine that a lot of Roman children probably had similar indoctrination to make them pass as right handed, particularly if they came from backgrounds and eras where the military was the primary way for someone from a lower class to gain wealth, land, etc. That and if they weren't seeking a role in the military, they would pretend that they were naturally right handed but "an accident makes it hard for me to use my right hand now" like many people in the 1800s did.
Is Metatron a feminist 3:13 "male =evil/bad" ???????
Arvos Crusader Kek
"You keep using that word...I do not think it means what you think it means." - (Princess Bride)
Arvos Crusader one problem with joke fe also has male in it :P
Millie Dragon DAN DAN DAN
I hope this is a joke - It is a totally different language
It's funny tho - a real feminist would have a field day if ever finds this...luckily they are mostly very stupid and much into education
I once read a nice, if perhaps stretched, reason for the less than positive view of left-handers. And it had to do with the origin of the handshake (since handshakes weren't practiced everywhere where lefties were looked down upon I'm not sure it applies too well but it's a good story). Initially the handshake wasn't so much a single shake, but a forearm grip on the weapon-arm which was gripped for the duration of the 'diplomatic talk'. So the handshake was a sort of disarming feature for soldiers to talk to enemies with. However, gripping a left-handed person's right hand wouldn't achieve much. So he was free, while the right-hander was limited.
Obviously anyone could use a dagger in the off-hand so it wasn't a real and functional disarming thing, but probably more of a psychological thing, which absolutely lends something to the left-hander being dangerous. He doesn't conform to the diplomatic practice, and so can't be trusted.
I'm a lefty myself, but I do find that story to be interesting. Even if absolutely wrong, it makes some sense as to why people would dislike lefties, they simply don't fit in whenever you make a sort of symbolic disarming thing with the right hand.
As a left handed, I agree with the video, left handed are considered good in duels, since we confuse our opponents who are used to fight against right handed people (that explains why are there many left handed fencers in the Olympic Games), but we are useless in wars, since we'd brake the formation, so if I lived in the ancient Rome (and if I were good at fighting) I'd likely succeed as a gladiator but I'd fail as a legionary.
Years later, the British army resurrected the "left-handed soldiers are a problem" idea, by adopting a weapon (the L85A1 or SA80) which could only be fired easily from the right shoulder. The ejection port was in a position which meant that attempts at aimed left-handed shooting tended to mean being hit in the face by hot cartridges.
Now say that 10x in a row: "When soldiers scout shoulder to shoulder, scutums of seconderary soldiers, scrap shoulders of scutum scraping, scouting soldiers."
Hi Metateon, love your videos.
Regarding the negative sentiments towards left hand: I don't think it came from the Greeks. I think it has Proto-Indo-European roots. In Sanskrit the word for right "dakshina" means the "skilled one" and the word for left "vāma" is used with a sinister meaning. For example "vāmamārga" means "wrong path (in life)". In India, even in religious life right hand is given a great importance. For example the consecrated food is offered and accepted with right hand. Offering or accepting something with left hand is considered extremely rude. "vāmacarya" means "dark/unconventional religious persuits" involving sexual or demonic worship.
When Metatron says "Shoulder to Scutum" and you hear "Shoulder to Scrotum"
I should probably think about growing up at some point.
Do you think cavalrymen would have had more freedom in terms of which hand they could use?
I'm a lefty. I've learned to play my instruments right handed, I throw a base ball with my right, mostly out of the fact left handed options suck. I'm used to using swords and axes with my right hand out of reenactments, marching in modern military formation the rifle still goes over the right shoulder. I have much better shield control using my left hand than most people because of this. However, using a two handed weapon such as a pole arm, pike, or zeihander left handed is how I go.
Greece seems much more a convoluted, mini-mountainous place than Italy, excluding Italy's central mountainous range and northern Alpine area. I watched a "Kings and Generals" episode involving early conflicts between Rome and Greece - mostly Macedonia, and it seemed to imply that fighting in Greece required considerable skill in fighting tactics in hilly, convoluted terrain. I can't see where Rome would have an advantage, all else being equal.
always good work.
Starting now but I just assume that as a military unit they were all just trained right handed because well how they fought in line and rank. If you had the shields on other sides it would make it hard for rotation during line change and open up odd gaps in the shield wall. On top of all that the pilum being thrown would make it hard an awkward to throw next to a left handed person in close rank.
I have a question that I hope you could answer, is off subject here, but, who exactly were the "kunoichi", or female ninja? Where they real? What were their primary purposes? Did they engage in combat?
+Metatron What do you think about russian special forces martial arts, "система спецназ" (systema spetsnaz)?
It's worth noting that the concept of "left" meaning "wrong" pre-dates ancient Greek. "Left" meant misfortune in the ancient Semitic languages of the Near East (ex. Assyrian, Babylonian, Hebrew), and meant "wrong" in Hittite. This doesn't necessarily change the ultimate reason that "left" indicates something bad, since the Sumerians are known to have used phalanxes, so that infantry formations existed in some form as far back as earliest civilization. Although after that early Sumerian depiction of a phalanx, we don't know much about how the infantries of the ancient Near East were arranged, but it's pretty much assumed that some form of phalanx was used.
The Online Etymological Dictionary ties the idea of the left being a bad thing to the fact that the left hand is usually the weaker hand, with words for "left" being derived from words meaning, for instance, "weak, twisted, crooked"
There's also potentially a more gross reason for it. Most people are right handed, so that became the hand that you used for most things, including touching other people and food. The left hand was used for, erh, other stuff. For instance, even in parts of India today, the left hand is used to wipe your butt. Seriously. Don't shake people's left hand in India. You don't know where it's been. Not all cultures were lefty butt wipers, but the concept of using the left hand for gross stuff and the right hand for interactive stuff isn't unique to India.
I love how Metatron gets a stronger cockney accent with every episode ;) Can you do more about the Greek phalanx- Is it true than in early Greek antiquity when city states fought each other with citizen phalanx armies their would be a lot of pushing but very few deaths?
Also- you showed a picture of a re-enactment Testudo with scutum on the sides, was this ever the case in the real world? Would it even be possible without exposing the row of soldiers on the flanks?
If I was a general I would allow my soldiers to stick to their preferred hands but organize them into units based on this criterion. So I would assemble a legion and organize all left-handers into a handful of centuries. This way you allow all your warriors to use their best hands (probably they will fight more adroitly this way).
Another advantage that I suspect (but I am no pro!) is that if most people train right handed against right handed opponents then the enemy might be thrown off and confused by meeting an all left-hander unit. If all soldiers are forced to train right handed then in sparring they always go up against their opponents with their sword across from the opponent's shield. But if you have a left hander unit coming up against an ordinary one then the fighting is in mirror (sword hands across from each other). If the left handers are used to fighting right handers (used to fighting in mirror) and the right handers are not, that seems to me a real advantage for the left-handers!
Do you know if this kind of strategy was ever used? Thanks for this video! As always your content is interesting and enjoyable to watch.
Your roman series of videos are great, please keep it up.
Fascinating. I agree 100%, it's exceedingly likely that lefties were forced to fight right handed or else occupuied other fighting tasks within an army. Even ignoring the valid point you make about holes in the shield wall, the arc of a leftie's swing would circle in the opposite direction. Even if that arc is small, the last thing you need is two arcs clashing against each other.
Interesting! In Polish we say someone "has two left hands" for something, when we suck at a particular activity. Or, if a product is of doubtful quality, it's "left", i.e. "Jakiś lewy ten gladius, ciągle się wygina" means "This gladius is of low quality, it keeps bending all the time". Lewy = left :)
Yo, Metatron, maybe you could make a video on surviving italian HEMA manuals being researched today. Something like an overview of the main things being praticed, like Fiore, Marozzo and so on.
You, Skallagrim and Hikok45 are my current favorites on youtube.
Curious about the tetsudo. Did the Legionarres (not sure if that should be capitalised) who made up the sides of the formation wear their shields on their left and right arms as needed? Or did they hold them in front and shuffle sideways as the tetsudo moved? On a similar note, what about those in the rear? Did they wear their shields on thier back? Or hold them in front and walk backwards?
Nice content as always. But i see you that you were a bit too quick with the jump cuts. It's...quite noticeable.
Also when you think about it, right handedness if I'm not mistaken is more common, and when it comes to fighting again if I'm not mistaken it's easier to fight someone who is using the same hand as you. Having said that most fighting styles originate from the right hand, especially when it comes to formations you wouldn't want to change this for a not so common individual.
I feel that it's also worth noting that the practice of forcing left handers to fight right handed still continues to this day. I've been told that in the British Army left handed recruits are forced to learn how to shoot right handed, reason being is that the L85 rifle is supposed to be very unfriendly for lefties.
I could be mistaken but I think that shooting right handed only was also a thing back in the day of muzzle loading black powder guns. I'd imagine that it would have to do, like the Greeks and Romans, with the tight formations they marched and fought in, having someone with their musket in their left hand would likely get in the way of his neighbor both shooting and reloading.
My personal experience with left handed people - my brother being one of them - is that they are likely to be better with their non-dominant hand than right-handed people, me and my sister being exceptions because we all brawled a lot together and learned from a very young age how to handle lefties effectively. Basically for a righty to handle a lefty, you have to learn to fight like a lefty
Legion vs hoplite was very simple. Let the less manuverable hoplite formation break their Spears on your front line while you out manuvered them. Once in close they would have to discard their Spears, and fight with their swords. This put them at a massive disadvantage for many reasons.
considering your thoughts on ~8:10. Left handed people know that it is almost impossible to even eat in a close-spaced table when there is someone on your left, so even worse when using a sword in a packed line. I guess it is not just the not protected opening but even more the difficulty to fight with someone elbow to elbow.
Humanity as a whole is just filled with perception rather than reality. Just bcoz someone said that left handed is bad it doesn't make them
Bad . Its unique 🤟
A couple of things to nitpick: aspis has the accent in the second syllable. It's aspIs not Aspis. Also Greece is as rocky and mountainous than Italy, if not more. Take a look at any physical map. Perhaps they fought in the plains because the mountains weren't very accessible.
Greek had a very formalised way of waging war. Envoys were sent, grievancies were exposed, war was formally declared, date and place for the "settlement" was agreed. Untill the Peloponnesian War, neither side tried to wipe out the other, just to "settle" some disputed plots of land, streams, passes, rivers, and so on. And since both parties fought in the same phalanx formations, usually both agree on a flat plain available.
Modern British soldiers are still forced to fight right-handed. This is because the L85/L86 rifle/light machine gun are not usable by lefties. And I don't know this for a fact, but I imagine that in the age of bolt action rifles, many if not most armies forced their soldiers to fight right handed. This is because as a lefty myself, I find that manipulating the bolt on bolt action rifles is far harder than it is for right handers. I personally own a Lee-Enfield No. III, and I find that left handed, I cannot come anywhere close to replicating the famous "mad minute", as the time it takes me to cycle the bolt with my left hand is far longer, and involves far more movement than it does for a right handed person. In the age of flintlock muskets, soldiers were forced to fight right handed as well, because the flash in the pan of a flintlock can take out a lefty's eye. The fact is that about 85% of the human population is right handed, and weapons and tactics tend to be designed for that 85%, with lefties either relegated to an afterthought or not thought of at all. I'm sure this has led to countless examples of right hand specific weapons and combat tactics, that lefties had to learn to adjust to.
hahahaha 8:36 "on the other hand" I see what you did there
I'm American of Italian heritage and left handed. I've worked as a security contractor for over a decade, and always carry my sidearm on my right. I've trained to be as good if not better with my right arm. Even my baton is carried in a manner I can draw comfortably with either arm if need be. The only thing I cannot do comfortably with my right is to actually write. If I were a Roman citizen, maybe I'd just pretend to be illiterate.
Yup, it's hard to fight in a formation of right handed people... normally I just go to the left, hiding my weapon from sight, and "surprise" flanking foes.
It's delicious in duels, though, or when the formations disband, because people is still not used to fight having blows not coming from their own shield's side.
I once asked this very question to a police officer who had taken part in quelling public disorder, and he told me that when they are using batons and shields, all officers must hold baton in right hand and shield in left, otherwise it messes up the formation and they can't get tight enough to hold lines etc. Makes sense to me. Yes I'm also left handed 👍🤜👈
In polish it's the same, "right" means "prawy", right side = prawa strona. The same word can desribe a person. "Ktoś prawy" means "someone good/rightful". With the left-side-being-bad thing we often say "coś lewego". Left = lewy, left side = lewa strona. Now "coś lewego" means "something from the LEFT (shady, suspicious) source", "something with a shady origin".
As always, I gotta say sorry for my english not being perfect.
Guess I have two right hands then, though I habitually favor my other right.
My opinion is that the "forcing right-handing" (is this term correct? :D ) is only for a tactic and practical reason:
1) Risk of making holes in close formation, although in very very close formation (testudo) it's irrelevant;
2) Possible collisions of shields during battle, because when you go in testudo formation you may lift up your shield over your head and every shield got a boss called "umbo"... then, try that manouver without bumping the two umbi if the shield ar carried by a lefthanded and a righthanded men;
3) When you use a scutum, you take a defiled position, rotated on the right, because you must use three points of support (the left shoulder on the upper zone of the scutum to prevent that a strike over it can damage your face, the left hand in the center of the scutum behind the umbo, where is the handle, and the left knee for the lower part of the scutum to prevent bumps on the shins), so you have difficulties to have a good left view... if all the soldiers are righthanded, when they are in defense position them could easier keep position (line) or do other maneuvers (rotations, forwarding in line, drawing back in line, etc.) without harming tactic;
4) The shield is not only a defensive tool, it's a weapon used for defense (60% - to block charges, to block swords or axes or maces hits, in closed formation when you are in second line to cover the blind side of the soldier in front of you) and offense (40% - to hit in the chest or in the face the enemy that charges, when you are in second line to hit an enemy that attacks the miles ahead of you, to hit legs or foots) so every maneuver is easier if the shields are on the same side.
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@Metatron I personally think, that they also accept lefthanded people in the roman army. Maybe not as a regular legionare in a centurie (because of the reasons you made clear) but maybe for "special forces" like soldiers who operates the catapults or scorpions. I'm not sure if the artillery were like a special unit in the roman forces or if the just used regular centuries to operate the artillery. But if it was a special unit (which makes somehow sense, because they need a special training and knowledge about the weapons) then they probably put the lefthanded soldiers in this units. Because it doesn't matter if you load and fire a catapult with your left or right hand.
Yeah, In Chester, England they believe there was a famous left handed Retiarii. They found carvings of him within the legionarry Fortress excavations, there is also a large Amphitheatre here.
Hmm.. in Persian,right direction also means "Truth" while "Left" also means "Unstraight" .
It may be hard to believe,but in the old times in my country, many left handed students were forced to write with their right hand at school ! (That's why we have so many adults who can write with both hands today ;) )
Speaking as a left handed person. Holding the shield with the left and weapon with the right wouldn't be a problem. I feel like I could do either side. Being left tends to mean a lot of practise using your "offhand".
you could put all left handed solder in last raw on the right of testudo and this qould be ok
Can you clarify a bit further on the use of the phalanx part? You said that the Romans stopped using it eventually because of the terrain they fought in; however, Greece is a largely mountainous country and finding an open plain for a battle isn't exactly easy. Is this really the main reason Romans stopped using the formation?
I have a question for you Metatron. What is the Roman Soldier's right hand's fist to chest motion in your video's intro?
Was it some type of Roman soldier's salute?
Jimi Hendrix's father even thought that left handiness was "of the devil" and encouraged him to use his right hand.
I could have become a lefty, too. But my parents taught me to use the right for eating and later at school it was natural that I would use the right for writing (although we got the option to use left-hand pens). So now I'm kinda ambidextrous. I can't write with my left, however i use it much more than right-handers do.
4:39 - Your perfect (modern) Greek pronunciation caught me off guard there, Metatron :O
"Cool mate." - Metatron
The fact yOur named after the most bad ass angel just earned u a sub
Metatron, about the photo you used on 6:36. are those bowmen actual Romans or are they auxiliaries?
Amazingly this negative connotation is also present in Mongolia - where the left handed are seen as having an evil side to them. Mothers typically react very badly to their children being left handed and make every effort to change this.... their word for left is Buruu (not sure how to spell it) which actually means "wrong". They also are very scared of mirrors as your right becomes your left