The plumbata was a lead-weighted throwing dart with a wooden shaft and fletching, used by ancient Greek forces from around 500 BC and most notably by late Roman and early Byzantine armies from about 300 AD onward. Roman infantrymen carried several plumbatae clipped inside their shields so they could be thrown at range before close combat, a practice described in a fourth-century military treatise by Vegetius and in the Byzantine Strategikon, and confirmed by archaeological finds such as those at Wroxeter. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Weapon Class Introduced Year Sources
1. Wikipedia: Plumbata
Lead section, first sentence
were lead-weighted throwing darts carried by infantrymen in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
- Introduced circa -500 per the entity's own sourced description text; no pre-1900 weapon system remains in current active military service.
- Introduction/adoption year stated in the entity's own sourced description text.
View the SourceWikidata: Plumbata
Wikidata Q1135087, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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