Catapults Explained In New Book

Engineer and architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio has just written an extremely revealing book about buildings and machinery. It is called De Architectura and will be released this year.

Chapter 10 is all about how famous Roman siege engines like the catapult work. He explains how a town's walls can be designed to resist these fearsome weapons as well.

Author Marcus Vitruvius Pollio's new book De Architectura will reveal a great deal about Roman weapons when it is released this year (35 BC).

Using tormenta (high tech artillery weapons) the Romans are able to kill their enemies from a long way away and make it easier for infantry soldiers to attack. They have adapted and improved many weapons designed by the Greeks. Here are some of them:

A soldier can fire a weapon called a manu-ballista. It looks like a bow placed on a shaft to form a cross shape.

The ballista has a wooden frame and can fire bolts with iron tips or large stones. These will kill or injure people defending a fort. To fire it, soldiers use a winch to pull its rope very tight. It is used where the land is rough, as it is fairly small and easy to move and set up.

The bolt or stone fired from a ballista can travel at over 180 kilometres per hour. It can hit a target over 500 metres away. An ordinary bow can only fire an arrow about 100 metres, so the ballista gives the Romans a huge advantage over their enemies. Romans have even developed a repeating ballista, firing three times as fast.

The catapult is the biggest siege weapon. It uses a spring to throw massive rocks, flaming objects, even dead animals and people at an enemy. It is made of wood and iron and is very powerful.

As well as siege machines, the Romans use battering rams, protective towers and ladders to help them get into a town they are besieging. They will also cut off its food and water supply if they can, and dig under the foundations of the walls to make them unstable.

In ferocious battles a soldier will only be in the front line for about 15 minutes at a time, before moving back. This helps to stop him getting exhausted. The well-trained soldiers are very loyal to their legion and to each other. It is believed that this helps the Romans overcome so many other nations.