Carroballista
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.35|A Roman carroballista from the time of Trajan Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the Roman author Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris II.25), each legion had 55 carroballistae (one per centuria) which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the cheiroballistra () type. Vegetius tells us that each carroballista was carried by mules and operated by one contubernium (i.e., eight soldiers commanded by one decanus). Surviving representation of a carroballista are from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column (Scene XL and Scenes LXV/LXVI)
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Roman ballista; catapult.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Carroballista
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Shooting position
- Structure of the cart
- See also
- Citations
- General and cited references
- External links
thumb|upright=1.35|A Roman carroballista from the time of Trajan Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the Roman author Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris II.25), each legion had 55 carroballistae (one per centuria) which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the cheiroballistra () type. Vegetius tells us that each carroballista was carried by mules and operated by one contubernium (i.e., eight soldiers commanded by one decanus). Surviving representation of a carroballista are from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column (Scene XL and Scenes LXV/LXVI) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
== Structure == thumb|Modern reconstruction of one possible appearance of a cheiroballistra thumb|Roman cart-mounted ballista (Trajan's Column) thumb|Roman cart-mounted ballista on the Column of Marcus Aurelius