The flexible middle-Republican formation organised in maniples and traditionally associated with Rome’s wars in Italy.
Overview
The manipular legion arranged heavy infantry in successive lines, commonly described as hastati, principes, and triarii. Small maniples could adapt more easily to broken terrain than a dense phalanx.
Why It Matters
Roman writers later regarded the manipular system as one of the foundations of Rome’s military success in Italy and the Mediterranean.
In Roman Practice
The system developed over time and should not be imagined as permanently fixed. By the late Republic, the cohort had become the more important tactical unit.