A number of these have been found in excavations, sufficiently well-preserved to show that they were "waisted", that is narrowed at the centre. While on the march, each soldier carried three or four strong wooden stakes each at least 1.5 m (5 ft) long and pointed at both ends. They were made of any strong wood, but oak was preferred. The Greek valli were cut on the spot the Romans prepared theirs beforehand.(Polyb. The Roman vallus, on the contrary, presented no convenient handle, required very great force to pull it down, and even if removed left a very small opening. Hence the Greek vallus could easily be taken hold of by its large branches and pulled from its place, and when it was removed a large opening was left in the vallum. The Greeks placed their valli in the agger at considerable intervals, the spaces between them being filled up by the branches the Romans fixed theirs close together, and made the branches interlace, and sharpened their points carefully. Both used for valli young trees or arms of larger trees, with the side branches on them but the valli of the Greeks were much larger and had more branches than those of the Romans, which had either two or three, or at the most four branches, and these generally on the same side. xxiii.5), who make a comparison between the vallum of the Greeks and that of the Romans, very much to the advantage of the latter. The stake-like valli (χάρακες) of which the vallum palisade was composed are described by Polybius (xviii.18.1, Excerpt. Valli (Sudes) combined to form a Czech hedgehog.
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