This is a historical question so I guess it belongs here. If it doesn't, I apologize for making a mistake with my very first thread, but why should it be different from most of my life?

I trust this board is a repository of strange info on the Romans, I've never found a pol junkie that wasn't a closet Legionaire under the skin.

Did the Romans have or use the atlatl spear thrower and if not, why not? It's hard to credit they didn't know of it, either themselves or through the barbarians, and in fact you'd think they'd come up with it themselves, since throwing the spear was their favorite tactic. I've never heard mention of it in regard to them though.

No they didn't. Later on when faced with these types of troops by other armies from outside Italy , they had clients, allies etc. who supplied light troops who performed this function, i.e. skirmisher etc. Balearic slingers and Thracian peltasts for instance, who were both quite effective and well regarded.

The nature of Western theatre combat say 800bc on ,was in the form of hvy shock infantry. Why? For the same reason the bow never took off as a battlefield weapon in the west even under Charlemagne who tried to introduce it into the combat components of his army, it was not sufficiently manly and was seen only as a hunting device, not suitable for direct combat.

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

The Roman Pilum was somewhat of a dual-use weapon. It was, of course, meant to induce injury when it hit flesh. Beyond that, the metal behind the head was malleable. When it was thrown against shields, the head would penetrate, and the shaft behind it would bend, making the shield difficult, if not impossible, to use, as it now had a 5’ piece of wood dangling from it along the ground. It was meant to be thrown against the front line of troops, denying them the use of their shields. Use of an atlatl would have given the javelin too high a trajectory to guarantee a hit on the front row of troops.

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Giving a legionaire an atlatl would be sort of like putting a .22 caliber pistol on a tank...

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"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
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Yeah, my thought... exactly.
The Pilum was a smart and effective weapon that suited the Roman tactic very well.
Especially since it was extremly effictive against heavily armoured and diciplined "civilized" troops that fought in close formations (for example the Greek Phalanx) and on the other hand absolutly devestating against "babarians"...

Besides:
The Roman Army had auxiliar archers which definatly had a higher accuracy and more ammo than possible atlatl spear throwers... Plus: they could fire in a balistic flight path over the head of the heavy infantry into the bulk of the attacking enemies.


AND I ALMOST FORGOT!
The Roman Legion was equiped with a number of light and heavy field artillery... The Legions Arsenal consisted of about 55 Balista (range 200-500 meters) and 10 Onagar (Heavy Artillery - range about 300meters)

So they had better dart weapons I would say...

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OIC, well, thank you for your help, most informative

A friend on another board compares this idea to equipping a tank with a 22 pistol.

And one on a Roman reenactors board does point out they did "use throwing loops and the like, called Amentum"

those were components added in the imperium not during the republic by and large. The Romans if anything were very dynamic and always adjusted to battlefield circumstances, if an enemy had an effective weapon the Romans would come with an alternative or equivalent, something better based on the same model.


an atlatl could never match the pilum as the weight of the weapons discharged have a momentum hence added energy all their own, the atlatl could not throw a weighted pilum like dart etc. And as others alluded, the pilum could be sued as a thrusting weapon as well.

The roman third line triaii had thrusting spears, velites were the republican light troop components of the legion until the Marian reforms.

__________________
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....