Hasta with Amentum. (From a Painting on a Vase.)
Under the general terms hasta and ἔγχος were included various kinds of missiles, of which the principal were as follow:—Lancea (λόγχη), the lance, a comparatively slender spear commonly used by the Greek horsemen. The appendage shown in woodcut, Fig. 2, enabled them to mount their horses with greater facility.—Pilum (ὑσσός), the javelin, much thicker and stronger than the Grecian lance. Its shaft, often made of cornel, was 4½ feet (three cubits) long, and the barbed iron head was of the same length, but this extended half way down the shaft, to which it was attached with extreme care, so that the whole length of the weapon was about 6 feet 9 inches. It was used either to throw or to thrust with; it was peculiar to the Romans, and gave the name of pilani to the division of the army by which it was adopted.—Whilst the heavy-armed Roman soldiers bore the long lance and the thick and ponderous javelin, the light-armed used smaller missiles, which, though of different kinds, were included under the general term hastae velitares (γρόσφοι). The γρόσφος was a dart, with a shaft about three feet long and an inch in thickness: the iron head was a span long, and so thin and acuminated as to be bent by striking against anything, and thus rendered unfit to be sent back against the enemy. Fig. 3, in the preceding woodcut, shows one which was found in a Roman entrenchment in Gloucestershire.—The light infantry of the Roman army used a similar weapon, called a spit (veru, verutum; σαύνιον). It was adopted by them from the Samnites and the Volsci. Its shaft was 3½ feet long, its point 5 inches. Fig. 4, in the preceding woodcut, represents the head of a dart in the Royal Collection at Naples; it may be taken as a specimen of the verutum, and may be contrasted with fig. 5, which is the head of a lance in the same collection.—The Romans adopted in like manner the gaesum, which was properly a Celtic weapon; it was given as a reward to any soldier who wounded an enemy. [[Gaesum].]—Sparus is evidently the same word with the English spar and spear. It was the rudest missile of the whole class.—Besides the terms jaculum and spiculum (ἄκων, ἀκόντιον), which probably denoted darts, resembling in form the lance and javelin, but much smaller, adapted consequently to the light-armed (jaculatores), and used in hunting as well as in battle, we find in classical authors the names of various other spears, which were characteristic of particular nations.—Thus, the sarissa was the spear peculiar to the Macedonians. This was used both to throw and as a pike. It exceeded in length all other missiles.—The Thracian romphea, which had a very long point, like the blade of a sword, was probably not unlike the sarissa.—With these weapons we may also class the Illyrian sibina, which resembled a hunting-pole.—The iron head of the German spear, called framea, was short and narrow, but very sharp. The Germans used it with great effect either as a lance or a pike: they gave to each youth a framea and a shield on coming of age.—The Falarica or Phalarica was the spear of the Saguntines, and was impelled by the aid of twisted ropes; it was large and ponderous, having a head of iron a cubit in length, and a ball of lead at its other end; it sometimes carried flaming pitch and tow.—The matura and tragula were chiefly used in Gaul and Spain: the tragula was probably barbed, as it required to be cut out of the wound.—The Aclis and Cateia were much smaller missiles.—Among the decorations which the Roman generals bestowed on their soldiers, more especially for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, was a spear without a head, called hasta pura. The celibaris hasta, having been fixed into the body of a gladiator lying dead on the arena, was used at marriages to part the hair of the bride. A spear was erected at auctions [[Auctio]], and when tenders were received for public offices (locationes). It served both to announce, by a conventional sign conspicuous at a distance, that a sale was going on, and to show that it was conducted under the authority of the public functionaries. Hence an auction was called hasta, and an auction-room hastarium. It was also the practice to set up a spear in the court of the [Centumviri].
HASTĀTI. [[Exercitus], [p. 168], b.]
HĔCĂTOMBĒ. [[Sacrificium].]
HECTĒ or HECTEUS (ἕκτη, ἑκτεύς), and its half, Hemiecton or Hemiecteon (ἡμίεκτον, ἡμιεκτέον). In dry measures, the hecteus was the sixth part of the medimnus, and the hemiecteon, of course, the twelfth part. The hecteus was equal to the Roman modius, as each contained 16 ξέσται or sextarii. The Hecte or Hecteus and Hemiecton were also the names of coins, but the accounts we have of their value are very various. The only consistent explanation is, that there were different hectae, derived from different units; in fact, that these coins were not properly denominations of money, but subdivisions of the recognised denominations.
HĔLĔPŎLIS (ἑλέπολις), “the taker of cities,” a machine constructed by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he besieged the city of Salamis in Cyprus. Its form was that of a square tower, each side being 90 cubits high and 45 wide. It rested on four wheels, each eight cubits high. It was divided into nine stories, the lower of which contained machines for throwing great stones, the middle large catapults for throwing spears, and the highest other machines for throwing smaller stones, together with smaller catapults. It was manned with 200 soldiers, besides those who moved it by pushing the parallel beams at the bottom. At the siege of Rhodes, B.C. 306, Demetrius employed an helepolis of still greater dimensions and more complicated construction. In subsequent ages we find the name of “helepolis” applied to moving towers which carried battering rams, as well as machines for throwing spears and stones.
HELLĀNŎDĬCAE (ἑλλανοδίκαι), the judges in the Olympic games, of whom an account is given under [Olympia]. The same name was also given to the judges or court-martial in the Lacedaemonian army, and they were probably first called by this name when Sparta was at the head of the Greek confederacy.
HELLĒNOTĂMĬAE (ἑλληνοταμίαι), or treasurers of the Greeks, were magistrates appointed by the Athenians to receive the contributions of the allied states. They were first appointed B.C. 477, when Athens, in consequence of the conduct of Pausanias, had obtained the command of the allied states. The money paid by the different states, which was originally fixed at 460 talents, was deposited in Delos, which was the place of meeting for the discussion of all common interests; and there can be no doubt that the hellenotamiae not only received, but were also the guardians of, these monies. The office was retained after the treasury was transferred to Athens on the proposal of the Samians, but was of course abolished on the conquest of Athens by the Lacedaemonians.
HĒLŌTES (εἴλωτες), a class of bondsmen peculiar to Sparta. They were Achaeans, who had resisted the Dorian invaders to the last, and had been reduced to slavery as the punishment of their obstinacy. The Helots were regarded as the property of the state, which, while it gave their services to individuals, reserved to itself the power of emancipating them. They were attached to the land, and could not be sold away from it. They cultivated the land, and paid to their masters as rent a certain measure of corn, the exact amount of which had been fixed at a very early period, the raising of that amount being forbidden under heavy imprecations. Besides being engaged in the cultivation of the land, the Helots attended on their masters at the public meal, and many of them were no doubt employed by the state in public works. In war the Helots served as light-armed troops (ψίλοι), a certain number of them attending every heavy-armed Spartan to the field; at the battle of Plataeae there were seven Helots to each Spartan. These attendants were probably called ἀμπίτταρες (i.e. ἀμφίσταντες), and one of them in particular, the θεράπων, or servant. The Helots only served as hoplites in particular emergencies; and on such occasions they were generally emancipated. The first instance of this kind was in the expedition of Brasidas, B.C. 424. The treatment to which the Helots were subjected was marked by the most wanton cruelty; and they were regarded by the Spartans with the greatest suspicion. Occasionally the ephors selected young Spartans for the secret service (κρυπτεία) of wandering over the country, in order to kill the Helots. The Helots might be emancipated, but there were several steps between them and the free citizens, and it is doubtful whether they were ever admitted to all the privileges of citizenship. The following classes of emancipated Helots are enumerated:—ἀφεταί, ἀδεσπότοι, ἐρυκτῆρες, δεσποσιοναύται, and νεοδαμώδεις. Of these the ἀφεταί were probably released from all service; the ἐρυκτῆρες were those employed in war; the δεσποσιοναύται served on board the fleet; and the νεοδαμώδεις were those who had been possessed of freedom for some time. Besides these, there were the μόθωνες or μόθακες, who were domestic slaves, brought up with the young Spartans, and then emancipated. Upon being emancipated they received permission to dwell where they wished.
HĒMĔRŎDRŎMI (ἡμεροδρόμοι), couriers in the Greek states, who could keep on running all day, and were often employed to carry news of important events. They were trained for the purpose, and could perform the longest journeys in an almost incredibly short space of time. Such couriers were in times of danger stationed on some eminence in order to observe anything of importance that might happen, and carry the intelligence with speed to the proper quarter. Hence we frequently find them called Hemeroscopi (ἡμεροσκόποι).