Description
The 'one-and-a-half' or 'hemiolia' was a light galley which was much favoured by pirates in the ancient world. It developed from the bireme, a ship that had two full decks of oars along its entire length. The hemiola reduced the number of oars on the upper level, leaving roughly half the number of oars and rowers in the midship section. The smaller number of rowers had little effect on overall speed because the laden weight of the vessel also dropped. Because it used both oars and sails, and the crew could rapidly change propulsion method, it was an ideal vessel for chasing down fat, wealthy merchant ships. Boarding attacks were mounted from hemiolas; ramming was not a useful tactic as loot ended up with the fish rather than enriching the pirates! The speed and handiness of hemiolas made them useful as scouts, supply boats and vessels used to pick off damaged enemies at the edge of battles.
Under the early Roman army’s Camillan system, if you were poor or low born then you might well have found yourself in battle with little more than a spear in your hand. Typically the poorest members of a Roman Legion, leves were attached to the hastati and faced the full enemy onslaught. They were used as a screen and to skirmish with the enemy’s front line. Un able to afford much armour, the leves used javelins in support of their richer compatriots. Historically, there were 300 leves alongside 900 hastati: 20 leves in front of each of the 60 maniples. They were replaced by velites, who were deployed across the three main lines of a maniple.
