Roman soldiers had crossed into Africa to fight Carthage. On the bank of the Bagradas, however, their weapons turned toward something the campaign plan could not have listed. Pliny the Elder says a serpent blocked them, and he describes the response in the language of siege warfare. General Marcus Atilius Regulus used ordnance and catapults, … Read more
The object is small enough to disappear between two hands. Its rim measures 89.5 millimetres across, its surviving body stands 47 millimetres high, and the whole copper-alloy pan weighs only 132.5 grams. Yet a line cut around that narrow rim holds four forts from the western end of Hadrian’s Wall, a technical phrase for the … Read more
Demetrius Poliorcetes brought Rhodes a siege tower that Vitruvius describes as 135 feet high, 60 feet broad and 360,000 pounds in weight. Hair and rawhide protected its timber frame against a 360-pound stone shot from a ballista. The machine was designed to survive impact, approach the wall and turn mass into access. Rhodes had already … Read more
The moon disappeared over two armies waiting near Pydna. After supper, while the camps settled for the night, the full moon lost its light by degrees, changed colour and became totally eclipsed. Roman soldiers clashed bronze vessels and raised torches and firebrands. Across the plain, Plutarch says, fear moved through the Macedonian camp with a … Read more
One hundred men stood between four thousand talents of siege machinery and a city wall. Vitruvius says the immense tortoise attributed to Hegetor of Byzantium could roll forward, shift right or left, raise its ram and lower it. Its iron beak did not hang from a simple shed. It worked inside a timber building that … Read more
The prisoner exchange began with a clean rule and ended at the boundary of Fabius Maximus’s land. He and Hannibal agreed to trade captives man for man. When the matched exchanges were complete, Hannibal still held 240 Romans. The contract gave that remainder a price: 250 drachmas for every man recovered. Rome’s Senate refused to … Read more
The offer arrived in a Roman camp as a letter from the other side. Pyrrhus’s own physician promised the consuls that he could kill the king with poison. In exchange, he wanted a reward for ending the war without exposing Roman soldiers to another battle. Plutarch places Caius Fabricius in the consulship when the messenger … Read more
The strongest man in the assembly wrapped both hands around an old horse’s tail and pulled. He had height, muscle and what looked like the easier animal. The tail stayed where it was. Nearby, a much smaller man began taking hairs from the thick tail of a powerful horse, one after another. Plutarch says the … Read more
Marcus Sergius carried a battle record that could be counted on his body. Pliny the Elder reports twenty-three wounds in two campaigns, a lost right hand, damaged limbs, two captures by Hannibal, and twenty months in chains. Sergius still returned to service. He fought with his left hand and later used an iron replacement on … Read more
A giant Gallic warrior stepped out before two armies with gold flashing on his armor. He flourished a spear, looked across the Roman line, and challenged anyone willing to meet him. The consuls were already troubled by the enemy’s strength and numbers. For a moment, Gellius says, Roman soldiers wavered between fear and shame. Then … Read more
