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maniple
(redirected from Maniples)

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
man·i·ple  (mn-pl)
n.
1. An ornamental silk band hung as an ecclesiastical vestment on the left arm near the wrist.
2. A subdivision of an ancient Roman legion, containing 60 or 120 men.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin manipulus, handful : manus, hand; see man-2 in Indo-European roots + -pulus, perhaps -ful; see pel-1 in Indo-European roots.]

maniple [ˈmænɪpəl]
n
1. (Historical Terms) (Military) (in ancient Rome) a unit of 120 to 200 foot soldiers
2. (Historical Terms) (Christianity / Ecclesiastical Terms) Christianity an ornamental band formerly worn on the left arm by the celebrant at the Eucharist
[from Medieval Latin manipulus (the Eucharistic vestment), from Latin, literally: a handful, from manus hand]

Maniple a handful; a small band of soldiers—Johnson, 1755.
Examples: maniple of papers and petitions, 1632; of people, 1829; of soldiers, 1755.


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The Hastati and Principes were divided into ten groups of 120 men called maniples, and the Triarii into ten maniples of sixty men (600 in a legion).
Though it is unclear the exact formation the army took, it is generally agreed that the maniples (units of 120 men) were arranged in a checkerboard formation, so the first line could fall back if need through the lines of the second without breaking up formation.
As time went on, however, into the age of Augustus, it is believed that the Maniple was dropped all together and the Cohort remained the principle standard unit in the army and was subdivided into six Centuries instead of three Maniples.
 
 
 
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