The Meta-Encyclopedia

Testudo

Testudo names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.

Testudo in Roman antiquity

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

in Roman antiquity, a cover or screen used in assaults on fortified towns. In cases where the town was of small size and accessible on every side, while the force at the disposal of the besiegers was large, a ring of soldiers was drawn round the walls, a portion of whom kept up a constant discharge of missiles on those who manned the battlements, while the rest, advancing on every side simultaneously, with their shields joined above their heads so as to form a continuous covering like a shell of a tortoise (testudine facta), planted scaling ladders against a number of difcoals. ferent points, and, at the same time, endeavored to burst open the gates. Also applied to a movable structure, on wheels or rollers, used to protect sappers. In mining, a shelter similar in shape and design employed as a defense for miners, etc., when working in ground or rock which is liable to cave in. In medicine, an encysted tumor, from a supposed resemblance to the shell of a tortoise. In music, a name applied to a species of lyre, because, according to the legend recounted at full length in the Homeric hymn, the frame of the first lyre was formed by Hermes out of the shell of a tortoise. In zoölogy, the tortoise; the type genus of Testudinidæ, with 25 species. Most abundant in the Ethiopian region, but also extending over the Oriental region, into the S. of Europe and the Eastern States of North America. Thorax convex, rather globular, and solid; breast-bone solid, with 12 shields, those of the throat separated; five toes on fore feet, four on the hinder pair.

Testudo in Roman antiquity

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

in Roman antiquity, a cover or screen used in assaults on fortified towns. In cases where the town was of small size and accessible on every side, while the force at the disposal of the besiegers was large, a ring of soldiers was drawn round the walls, a portion of whom kept up a constant discharge of missiles on those who manned the battlements, while the rest, advancing on every side simultaneously, with their shields joined above their heads so as to form a continuous covering like a shell of a tortoise (testudine facta), planted scaling ladders against a number of different points, and, at the same time, endeavored to burst open the gates. Also applied to a movable structure, on wheels or rollers, used to protect sappers. In mining, a shelter similar in shape and design employed as a defense for , etc. miners , when working in ground or rock which is liable to cave in. In medicine, an encysted tumor, from a supposed resemblance to the shell of a tortoise. In music, a name applied to a species of lyre, because, according to the legend recounted at full length in the Homeric hymn, the frame of the first lyre was formed by Hermes out of the shell of a tortoise. In zoology, the tortoise; the type genus of Testudinidæ, with 25 species. Most abundant in the Ethiopian region, but also extending over the Oriental region, into the S. of Europe and the Eastern States of North America. Thorax convex, rather globular, and solid; breast-bone solid, with 12 shields, those of the throat separated; five toes on fore feet, four on the hinder pair.

Testudo among the ancient Romans

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

among the ancient Romans, a defensive cover or screen formed by overlapping shields. The name comes from testa, meaning a shell, particularly a tortoise shell. When a party of Roman soldiers advanced to storm a wall or against the enemy they were wont to close up their files. Each man elevated his oblong shield or target above his head, overlapping it with that of his comrades in such a way that the shields of the company formed a roof or protection against the darts or other missiles of the enemy. Caesar relates that on one occasion the javelins of the enemy hurled through the air fell upon the testudo and pinned the edges of the shields together in such a way that it was difficult for the soldiers to pull their targets apart when they desired to engage the enemy individually. The term was applied also to a movable structure on wheels or rollers used for protecting sappers and miners as they endeavored to undermine a wall.

What Has Changed in the Last Century

The Roman military account still stands: the shield-roof formation, and Caesar's story of javelins pinning the shields together, are described today much as Aiton's did in 1910. What has moved is the zoology. Collier's genus Testudo of 1921, with "25 species" reaching the Ethiopian and Oriental regions and "the Eastern States of North America," has been broken up: the American forms are now placed in Terrapene (box turtles) and Gopherus (gopher tortoises), the giant Galapagos and Indian Ocean tortoises in Chelonoidis and Aldabrachelys, leaving Testudo as a small Mediterranean and western Asian group of roughly five species. Those survivors are now conservation cases rather than curiosities, the Egyptian tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni) being among the most endangered tortoises in the world; and the medical sense of "testudo" for an encysted tumour has dropped out of use entirely.

Written for this edition, 2026.