Testudo

In the eleventh spiral of the column of Trajan Roman troops attack a Dacian fortress in a formation called the testudo (“tortoise”).  Lepper and Frere note that the Roman historian, Livy, describes this maneuver (44.9.6–9) and they paraphrase Livy:

". . . the men in the front file and those at the sides of the following files kept their shields facing towards the front and sides respectively, while the remainder held their shields above their heads so as to form a roof to protect them from missiles thrown down at them by the defenders; the roof-shields of each file had to overlap slightly those of the following one, so that missiles slid harmlessly down and away, and all the men had to keep rigorously in step throughout their approach to the wall” (109).

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