The ''scorpio'' or scorpion was a type of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

torsion siege engine and field

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

piece. It was described in detail by the early-imperial Roman architect and engineer

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

in the 1st century BC and by the 4th century AD officer and historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

,
Roman History
'

Design

Two versions are known: a horizontal two-armed variety like a ballista and a one-armed, vertical version otherwise referred to as an ''onager''. The scorpion was made of a ground frame made of two beams joined together with crossbeams. Spring holes were drilled into the sides of the beams to allow for ropes to be placed in, thus allowing them to serve as sinew-springs. This gave the weapon more power. An arm made of wood known as the ''stilus'', with iron hooks at the end, was used to hold the stone or bolt which was to be fired. The fourth century army officer and historian Ammianus Marcellinus witnessed the use of ''scorpiones'' during several engagements in the Persian wars of Constantius II, and described the one-armed version as synonymous with the ''onager'', with the vertical upraised arm as the 'scorpion's sting'. The complexity of construction and in particular the torsion springs (which the Romans referred to as ''tormenta'') led to great sensitivity to any variation in temperature or moisture, which limited their use. While this type of technology continued to be used in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, which was the continuation of the Roman Empire through the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, it had disappeared in the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Unlike the

onager The onager (, ) (''Equus hemionus''), also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus ''Asinus'', the onager was Scientific description, described and given its binomial name ...

, the scorpion only required one man to operate it.

Use

In 52 BC, during the siege of Avaricum in the war against the

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

mentions the ''scorpio'' in use as an anti-personnel weapon against the Gallic town's defenders. The late third or early fifth century Roman author

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also r ...

described weapons like the scorpion mounted on carts for campaign use. According to Vegetius, the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

ideally fielded fifty-five '' carroballistae'' per legion, one for every

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

, of whom ten men would be deputed to operate the machine. These, which match Vitruvius's description and the depictions on Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, he describes as mule-drawn, armour-piercing

ballistae The ballista (Latin, from Ancient Greek, Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an Classical antiquity, ancient missile weapon tha ...

which "are to be used not only for defending the camp, but also in the field". The carroballista could be synonymous with, or very similar to, the ''scorpio'' mounted (and not merely transported) on a cart. The bolt-firing scorpio had mainly two functions in a legion. In precision shooting, it was a weapon of marksmanship capable of cutting down any foe within a distance of . In parabolic shooting, the range is greater, with distances up to , and the firing rate is higher (3 to 4 shots per minute). With precision shooting the rate of fire was significantly less. Scorpions could be used in an

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

at the top of a hill or other high ground, the side of which was protected by the main body of the legion. The weight and speed of a bolt was sufficient to pierce enemy shields, usually also wounding the enemy so struck. Like other ancient artillery, the scorpion could be cumbersome and costly campaign equipment, as it could be quite difficult to move quickly and usually acted as a fixed weapon used in infantry defense and for sieges, where it was used both as a siege weapon, fired by the besiegers from earthworks and siege towers, and as an element in cities' defences, mounted on walls and towers. A further development of torsion siege engines ''scorpio'' was the '' cheiroballista''.Warry, J. (1995),
Warfare in the Classical World
', pg 178; Salamander Books Ltd., London: United Kingdom.

Media

Image:Balliste fireing.jpg, Modern reconstruction of a Scorpio Image:047 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XLVII (Ausschnitt 02).jpg, Scorpio in fortified position Image:047 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XLVII (Ausschnitt 01).jpg, Scorpio mounted on walls Image:048 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XLVIII (Ausschnitt 01).jpg,

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

n scorpio

References

Bilbliography

*Duncan B. Campbell and Brian Delf, ''Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC–AD 363'', New Vanguard series 89, Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford 2003. *John Warry, ''Warfare in the Classical World'', Salamander Books Ltd., London 1995.

External links

A Reconstruction of Vitruvius' Scorpion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorpio (Weapon) Roman artillery Field artillery

Design

Use

Media

See also

References

Bilbliography

External links