. The first examples seem to have been carried by the
Ancient Greeks from about 500 BC onwards, but the best-known users were the
late Roman and
Eastern Roman armies. The earliest and best written source for these weapons refers to a period around 300 AD, though the document was composed around 390–450 AD. A second source, also from the late 4th century, is an
anonymous treatise titled
De rebus bellicis, which briefly discusses (so far archaeologically unattested) spiked
plumbatae (
plumbata tribolata), but which is also the only source that shows an image of what a
plumbata looked like. The image shows what looks like a short
arrow with a weight attached to the shaft. Although only later copies of the original manuscript exist, this is confirmed by the remains which have so far turned up in the archaeological record. A third source is the late 6th century
Strategicon, written by the
Byzantine emperor
Maurice, who wrote about the
martzobarboulon, a corruption of its Latin name
martiobarbulum.
Plumbatae etymologically contain
plumbum, or
lead, and can be translated "lead-weighted [darts]".
Martiobarbuli in this translation is
mattiobarbuli in the
Latin, which is most likely an assimilation of
Martio-barbuli, "little barbs of Mars". The barb implied a barbed head, and
Mars was the god of war (among other things). Archaeology gives a clearer picture of
martiobarbuli. The reference listed has an illustration of a find from
Wroxeter identified as the head of a
plumbata and a reconstruction of the complete weapon: a
fletched dart with an
iron head weighted with lead. The reconstruction seems entirely consistent with Vegetius' description. War darts were also used in Europe later in the
Middle Ages. ==See also==