Classis (military)
Classis in the sense of the Roman military is not the name of the Roman version of the Greek phalanx , but the general name for a military unit / division, the smallest of which has formed a formation of closed battle lines in the infantry since the Servian army reform .
The corresponding Roman formation was staggered according to the armor and armament of the soldiers, with the heavily armored fighters in the first rows and the lightly armored fighters in the last rows. With their large shields, the Romans often formed special formations such as the " turtle ". Until the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman legionaries fought in closed lines of battle. In the fight against Greek phalanx formations , the Roman troops were usually superior because their battle order was more flexible due to the smaller formations.
The Romans first threw their javelins ( pila ) at a certain point in the phalanx , and then stormed into the gap created in this way with drawn out short sword ( gladius ).
