Roman Pilum: This was a workhorse of the infantry, each soldier carried two. The soft iron of the shank would cause it to bend after impact, thus rendering the weapon useless to the enemy. More importantly, if the pilum struck the shield of an enemy it would embed itself into the shield's fabric, and this along with the bending of the shank would cause the shield to become unwieldy, forcing the enemy to discard it or waste time trying to pull it out.
