Roman Siege Equipment and Artillery

Ancient Romans saw great success in siege warfare due to their technologically superior siege
equipment; this and their aggressive position on siege warfare helped make them the greatest conquerors of their
time. Romans however, did not invent the equipment they used. Many of their siege engines were invented by
Greek scientists, and the technology came to Rome from relations with Greece and when Rome conquered the
Greek people. Even though gunpowder had not yet been invented, Roman siege engines were very powerful and
were feared by the enemies of Rome. Their catapults could take down even the thickest city walls and other
equipment could devastate the enemy army. One downfall to the equipment they used was they took a lot of
maintenance to make sure they kept working, were not very portable, and some when got wet or used too much
lost power and were useless. The Romans had many different kinds of siege equipment for different uses.

The Ballista
One of the most famous pieces of Roman artillery,
the ballista was used to fire a large iron bolt or stone at the enemy
infantry. It could do this at a range of 400-500 yards. Due to it's high
accuracy, lethality, and loud sound made by the ballista firing it was
greatly feared by those fighting the Romans. It works much like a
crossbow, the rope is attached to arms connected to the weapon and
pulls a wooden firing mechanism toward the back; the rope is pulled
back by a crank at the back.

The Onager
The onager was the Roman form of the catapult. It was named after
the Latin word for donkey since the kicking action made by the
machine was similar to that of a donkey. It used torsional power which
means a rope attached to the arm of the onager was twisted and
tightened by a lever and then released to fire. It fired stones ranging
from 200-300 pounds which were very useful at destroying city walls
or tight enemy formations. It could also fire explosive clay balls or
flammable stones dipped in oil to scare the enemy.

Battering Ram
A very simple and traditional siege weapon, the battering ram was
used by many civilizations through the ancient and even medieval era.
It was used to break city gates so the attacking army could enter the
city. To defend the men working the weapon, the ram was put inside a
shelter called a testudo to defend from arrows and other projectiles.
One Roman law was that the enemy could surrender at any time until
the first battering ram reached the walls, after that surrender was not
an option.
 Siege Tower
The siege tower was also a weapon used by many other civilizations as well as the
Romans. It was positioned next to city walls when the front wall was pushed out to
make a bridge where men inside the tower would move onto the walls. They could
range from 50 to even 75 feet depending on the wall of the city. They were very
effective and their only main weakness was fire which could be used by defending
archers to burn down the tower.

Scorpios
A scorpio is similar to the ballista in both design and use. It was a Roman
artillery weapon that could cause considerable damage on an enemy
army. However, unlike the ballista, it was smaller and could fire many
more bolts in a short time, and could be operated by one person; they
could also be mounted on city walls to defend from attackers. They could
only be fired around 100 meters,unlike the ballista which could fire
around 400 meters. Romans liked the advantage of the scorpio in their
army and there would generally be 60 to a legion, which together could
fire 240 bolts per minute. The Romans may have even developed a self
loading scorpio, however it's existence is debated among historians.