Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted

ballista The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant ...

, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the

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 ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

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 ...

(''Epitoma rei militaris'' II.25), each

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

had 55 ''carroballistae'' (one per ''

centuria ''Centuria'' (, plural ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the century changed over time, and from the first century BC through most ...

'') which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the ''

cheiroballistra The ''cheiroballistra'' ( el, χειροβαλλίστρα) or ''manuballista'' (Latin), which translates in all its forms to "hand ballista", was an imperial-era Roman siege engine. Designed by Hero of Alexandria and mostly composed of metal (t ...

'' type. Vegetius tells us that each ''carroballista'' was carried by mules and operated by one '' contubernium'' (i.e., eight soldiers commanded by one ''

decanus ''Decanus'' means "chief of ten" in Late Latin. The term originated in the Roman army and became used thereafter for subaltern officials in the Byzantine Empire, as well as for various positions in the Church, whence derives the English title "de ...

''). Surviving representation of a ''carroballista'' are from the bas-reliefs of

Trajan's Column Trajan's Column ( it, Colonna Traiana, la, Columna Traiani) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Ap ...

(Scene XL and Scenes LXV/LXVI) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

Structure

031 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XXXI (Ausschnitt 01)

Roman Carroballista, Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome, Italy

The structure of the ''carroballista'' machine is identical to that of the ''

'' or ''manuballista''. It seems that the technical innovations introduced by the adoption of the ''cheiroballistra'' by the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

at the end of the 1st century AD made the use of the cart possible. In fact, the light but stout metal spring-frame and the wider space in the frontal part of the machine given by the arched strut conferred a greater manoeuvrability to the whole ballista.

Shooting position

According to the Trajan's column representation (Scene XL), the ''carroballista'' was manoeuvred by one man mounted on the cart with the ballista and by another man positioned behind the cart and operating probably some sort of winch handle. The presence of the mules in front of the cart suggests that the ''carroballista'' could be easily moved through the battlefield whilst shooting bolts. This interpretation is not unanimously accepted by scholars. It is not certain that the ''ballistae'' are actually shooting. The whole representation could be simply an image of carts transporting ''ballistae'' to their destination nest on the battlefield. But the bolts or arrows are here depicted in a ready-to-fire position, hazardous for artillerymen if the ''ballistae'' are simply being transported in order to be dismounted and deployed on the battlefield. In another section of the Trajan's column (Scene LXVI) the simple transportation of the ''ballista'' is depicted and now we have no arrows or bolts ready to be released on the ''ballista'', the ''ballista'' is empty, and no artilleryman is manoeuvring the machine. An artilleryman is pulling the cart near the wheel and this suggests that the whole machine must have been quite a heavy structure.

Structure of the cart

It is sure that the cart was pulled by two mules or horses and that the size was probably that of standard Roman carts, i.e. c. 5 Roman feet (c. 147 cm) width (as depicted in the

, Scene XL and Scene LXVI), but the whole design of the cart is uncertain. There are many hypotheses about the structure of the cart and probably different models of the same machine seem to have been in use at the same time: * a simple two-wheel cart used to transport the ''ballista'' to its final emplacement on the field; * a special two-wheel cart .e. ''carroballista''with a ''ballista'' mounted on the cart and with the frontal part positioned towards the mules; * a special ''ballista'' simply mounted on two wheels and without cart (Trajan's Column Scene LXVI) and probably transported with the frontal part positioned rear, like Modern Era cannons, or forward and with a Transport-hook or Transport-hooks at the frontal position (see again Trajan's Column, Scene LXVI). * a special four-wheel cart with a mounted ''ballista'', as described in the book ''

De Rebus Bellicis ''De rebus bellicis'' ("On the Things of Wars") is an anonymous work of the 4th or 5th century which suggests remedies for the military and financial problems in the Roman Empire, including a number of fanciful war machines. It was written af ...

''. Many scholars do not have an opinion about this problem, due to scarce evidence, as clearly stated by Alan Wilkins.

References

Sources

*J. P. Oleson, ''The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World'', Oxford 2006, page 699. *W. Soedel and V. Foley, ''The Greek and Roman Ballistae'', ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

'', March 1979 p. 150 – 160*A. Wilkins, ''Roman Artillery'', Princes Risborough 2003, pages 39–50. Wilkins, teacher of Classics at the University of Cambridge, produced for the first time real scale operating ''ballistae'', among which the famous stone-thrower for BBC and a ''cheiroballistra''.

External links