Hasta is a Latin word meaning spear. Hastae were carried by early Roman Legionaries, in particular they were carried by and gave their name to those Roman soldiers known as Hastati. However, during Republican times, the hastati were re-armed with pilae and gladii and the hasta was only retained by the triarii. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National Park. ... The Hastati (sing. ... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... A Roman coin showing Antoninianus of Carinus holding pilum and globe. ... From left to right: Mainz, Fulham, Pompeii, and Pompeii Gladii. ... The Triarii (Latin singular triarius) was the third standard line of infantry of the Roman Empires army. ...
A hasta was about six feet in length with a shaft generally made from ash, the head was of iron.
From Tacitus and other Roman writers, we know that a hasta pura was given as a decoration. Such decorations were bestowed upon soldiers by Roman generals, more especially for saving the life of a fellow-citizen:
In this engagement Rufus Helvius, a common soldier, won the honour of saving a citizen's life, and was rewarded by Apronius with a torc and a spear. To these the emperor added the civic crown, complaining, but without anger, that Apronius had not used his right as proconsul to bestow this further distinction.[1][2]
Also, such a gift is sometimes recorded in funereal inscriptions. A torc, also spelled torque (from Latin torqueo, to twist, because of the twisted shape of the collar) is a rigid circular necklace that is open-ended at the front. ... The Civic Crown (Latin: corona civica) was a chaplet of common oak leaves woven to form a crown. ...
A hasta was also used as a sign that would be conventionally understood in Roman culture as announcing an auction. Hence, an auction was called hasta and an auction-room a hastarium.
Many spears come from graves, but the wooden part of the spear has usually rotted away, and the distance between the head and butt-spike is not proof of the spear's length.
Under-arm: the spear is held in the right hand, with the thumb on the top of the spear and the spear held typically at around waist height.
To deploy a spear over-arm, a man has to throw the spear upwards, quickly get his arm underneath it, and catch it again (unless he was holding it upside down, with the butt spike in the air, but this is never pictured, and would mean that the main spearhead would get blunted on hard ground).
The spear is far and away the most common type of pole weapon, and may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the lance, the halberd, the naginata and the pike.
The spear survives as a military weapon in the form of the bayonet, and as a lance it was used in combat as recently as 1939 (Polish Lancers attacking Wehrmacht Armored units).
Sir James Fraiser in 'The Golden Bough' noted the phallic nature of the spear and suggested the spear as a lance in the Arthurian Legends, paired with the Grail (as a symbol of female fertility), functioned symbolically as a symbol of male fertility.
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