Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted
ballista
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 ...
, 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 Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
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
* Aviazione Legionaria, Italian air force during the Spanish Civil War
* A legion is the regional unit of the Italian carabinieri
* Spanish Legion, ...
had 55 ''carroballistae'' (one per ''
centuria
''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of ...
'') which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the ''cheiroballistra'' () type. Vegetius tells us that each ''carroballista'' was carried by mules and operated by one ''
contubernium
In ancient Rome, ''contubernium'' was a quasi-marital relationship between two Slavery in ancient Rome, slaves or between a slave (''Slavery in ancient Rome#The slave in Roman law and society, servus'') and a free person who was usually a form ...
'' (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 (military), subaltern officials in the Byzantine Empire, as well as for various positions in the Church, whence derives ...
''). 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
The Column of Marcus Aurelius (, ) is a Roman victory column located in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. A Doric column adorned with a detailed spiral relief, it was built in honor of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled after Trajan's Colu ...
.
Structure

The structure of the ''carroballista'' machine is identical to that of the ''cheiroballistra'' or ''manuballista'', which translates in all its forms to "hand
ballista
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 ...
", was an imperial-era
Roman siege engine. Designed by
Hero of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimental ...
and mostly composed of metal (the spring mechanism and the skeins), it shot bolts that were smaller than those in other forms of ballistae and generally made of metal. It was the next major improvement after the ''
scorpio''. The name of the weapon is composed of the Greek words for 'hand' and 'shooter' implying that portable versions might also have existed, similar to
crossbow
A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...
s.
It seems that the technical innovations introduced by the adoption of the ''cheiroballistra'' by the
Roman army
The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
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
Trajan's Column, 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).
[About this hypothesis and a proposal of reconstruction of a ''carroballista'' of this type, see W. Soedel and V. Foley, '']Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'', March 1979, pp. 150–160.
* a special four-wheel cart with a mounted ''ballista'', as described in the book ''
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 after the death of Con ...
''.
Many scholars do not have an opinion about this problem, due to scarce evidence, as clearly stated by Alan Wilkins.
See also
*
Ballista
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 ...
*
Ballista elephant
*
Gastraphetes
The gastraphetes (), also called belly bow or belly shooter, was a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his work ''Belopoeica'', which draws on an earlier ac ...
*
Roman siege engines
Roman siege engines were, for the most part, adapted from Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic siege technology. Relatively small efforts were made to develop the technology; however, the Romans brought an unrelentingly aggressive style to siege ...
*
Scorpio (weapon)
The ''scorpio'' or scorpion was a type of Roman torsion siege engine and field artillery piece. It was described in detail by the early-imperial Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius in the 1st century BC and by the 4th century AD officer an ...
*
Tachanka
A tachanka (Russian and ) was a horse-drawn cart (such as charabanc) or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun mounted on the rear side. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four mules and required a crew of two or three (one driver and a machin ...
Citations
General and cited references
*Duncan B. Campbell and Brian Delf, ''Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC–AD 363'', New Vanguard series 89, Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford 2003.
* 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 scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'', 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 the BBC and a ''cheiroballistra''.
External links
*
{{Ancient mechanical artillery and hand-held missile weapons
Ancient Greek artillery
Projectile weapons
Roman artillery
Roman siege engines