Battering Ram

a device for hammering down the walls of cities. Before the invention of gunpowder, the chief defense of a city consisted in a high wall, with entrances defended by massive gates. The battering ram employed by the ancients for hammering down these walls was of two sorts. The chief feature of the first was a huge beam swung by cables in a frame. The end of the beam was shod frequently with an iron head, and the frame in which it swung was provided with a roof to protect the operators from a shower of stones and javelins from the top of the wall above. A number of men applying their strength to the beam caused it to swing to and fro in such a way that one end struck the wall with tremendous force. The other sort was operated on rollers. The force of the battering ram depended, of course, on the weight of the beam and the force with which it was propelled. Rams, employed by the Romans at the siege of Carthage, were so large that a hundred men were required for their operation. A Roman writer describes one that must have weighed over twenty tons. Those in charge are said to have made a study of striking the wall at the right moment, so that the force of the blow might be added to the natural vibrations of the wall, just as a boy learns to push a swing. The frame of a ram was moved to and fro on rollers.