The manipular army was based upon social class, age and military experience.

But I have not found that much was gained by manipular attempts to realize the world of thought.

This was to be known as "manipular formation".

The manipular army got its name from the manner in which its heavy infantry was deployed.

The central feature of the mid-Republican army was the manipular organisation of its battle-line.

Also during this period, the manipular structure was gradually phased out, and the much larger cohort became the main tactical unit.

Then he reorganized the legions into the cohort system, doing away with the manipular system.

Compared to the manipular legion, Polybius gives little detail about the structure of an allied ala.

The precedence during the times of the manipular legion, commanding sixty men, was organized like this:

Tough mountain-dwelling pastoralists, they are believed to have invented the manipular fighting unit adopted by the Romans.

The manipular system also allowed entire Roman sub-units to maneuver more widely, freed from the need to always remain tightly packed in rigid formation.

The manipular legion was a major improvement over the phalanx on which it was based, providing a flexibility and responsiveness unequalled before that time.

The Manipular system was adopted at around 315 BC, during the Second Samnite War.

By increasing dispersal, triple that of a typical phalanx, the manipular legion had the unanticipated benefit of reducing the lethality of opposing weapons.

The manipular system allowed engaging every kind of enemy even in rough terrain, because the legion had both flexibility and toughness according to the deployment of its lines.

During the Second Samnite War, the Romans adopted the manipular system of military organization, which the Pontius and the Samnites used throughout the conflict.

The extraordinary demands of the Punic Wars, in addition to a shortage of manpower, exposed the tactical weaknesses of the manipular legion, at least in the short term.

The basic equipment of an imperial foot-soldier was essentially the same as in the manipular Roman army of the Republic: metal armour cuirass, metal helmet, shield and sword.

It is believed that the Romans copied the manipular structure from their enemies the Samnites, learning through hard experience its greater flexibility and effectiveness in the mountainous terrain of central Italy.

What the former age has epitomized into a formula or rule for manipular convenience, it will lose all the good of verifying for itself, by means of the wall of that rule.

It is believed the latter invented the manipular infantry formation and the use of javelins and oblong shields that were adopted by the Romans at the end of the Samnite Wars.

Only Pyrrhus of Epirus was able to maintain a high standard of tactical handling with armies based around the sarissa, but with the dawn of the manipular system, even he struggled for his victories.

Another major advantage was a new tactical formation, the manipular legion (adopted around 300BC), which could operate independently to take advantage of gaps in an enemy line, as at the Battle of Pydna.

The Early Roman army refers to the army deployed by ancient Rome during its Regal Era and its early Republic, until c. 300 BC, when the so-called "Polybian" or manipular legion was introduced.

The mainstay of the Roman republic's war machine was the manipular legion, a heavy infantry unit suitable for close-quarter engagements on more or less any terrain, which was probably adopted sometime during the Samnite Wars (343-290 BC).