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Roman Timeline

Siege Warfare and Fortification

The Romans brought combat engineering to a height that would not be attained again for many centuries. A high level of organization plus a determination to throughly address all aspects of battle led the Romans to integrate a wide range of tactics and tools into their fighting.

The Tools and Techniques of Siege Warfare

Assaulting the walls of a fortification successfully is the key to taking any fortified position. This can be done using one or more of the following methods; battering through, scaling over the walls, or sapping to weaken the walls very foundation.

Whether mounted on wheels or suspended by ropes or chains a battering ram had cover overhead to protect its handlers from missiles and blazing pitch from defenders. The largest of these battering rams needed more than 200 men to swing the 100 ft ( 30.48 meters ) long 41/2 ton ( kg ) wood beam. By concerted effort the iron head of the battering ram was repeatedly slammed into the wall, weakening it and eventually breaching the wall.

Alesia  52 B.C.

After Vercingetorix, the strongest leader among the Gaelic tribes fighting Julius Caesar, lost a hard fought battle in the open field he fell back with some 90,000 troops to an unconquerable fortification ( oppidum ) at Alesia. In this Vercingetorix was nearly right for it would take a supreme effort from Caesar and his battle hardened troops to successfully besiege the mountain top fortress. Situated on Mount Auxois Alesia was a 240 acre plateau between two valleys with very steep slopes and cliffs of limestone fortified with drystone walls.

When Julius Caesar arrived he quickly realized that the only way he could take the fortress was by starving out the defenders. The Romans built fortified camps out of firing range of the defenders and then under Caesar's direction set about building a series of extensive siege works. 25 miles of campaign fortifications were constructed by Caesar's army of 55,000 in just 6 weeks. An encircling wall complete with towers every 130 yards overlooked a 20 foot deep trench, 12 foot high ramparts and concealed pits filled with sharpened stakes and iron hooks. A similar ring of fortifications faced outward to forestall any attempt by the Gauls to raise the siege. The wisdom of this tremendous construction effort was shown when a Gaelic force numbering up to 250,000 repeatedly assaulted the legions under Caesar while Vercingetorix led his besieged men in an attempt to breakout. In the end the relieving forces retired from the field and the next day the Gaelic chieftain surrendered.

Handrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Handrian's Wall is one of the most impressive fortifications of the ancient world. Almost 80 miles long stretching from Newcastle in the east to Solway in the west the barrier essentially cut Britain in two. Initially the structure was to be a continuous wall of stone ten feet thick. Work began about 120 AD and seems to have been speeded up probably in the face of determined resistance from the northern tribes. The wall continued but narrowed to eight feet while a major section was made of turf and timber 20 feet across at the base, though this was gradually replaced with stone and finished long before the end of the second century. Built into the very structure of the wall every mile were Milecastles, fortified gateways manned by approximately 16 men. Every third of a mile turrets provided an observation / guard post and access to the Wall walkway. In addition entire forts covering 5 acres and housing some 1,000 auxiliary infantry and irregular troops also sat astride Handrians wall.

On the north side of the Wall a 27 ft wide 10 ft deep ditch further enhanced the defensive quality of the fortification. On the south side is "Military Way", a roman road that follows the Wall along its length and further back a formidable defensive structure, the Vallum. The Vallum was a flat bottomed ditch 10 ft deep and 8 ft in width increasing to 20 ft at the top. On either side of this ditch the evacuated earth from the digging was deposited thirty feet back from the edges creating continuous ridges 6 ft high.

The Emperor Hadrian

All Roads Lead to Rome

Masada 72 - 74 AD

Without a doubt the most enduring and controversial fortification built by the Romans is Masada. Built on a towering flat topped mountain 1,300 ft ( 400 meters ) above the Dead Sea, one of the most desolate areas of the world, Masada was an outpost during the revolt of the Maccabees ( 168 - 142 B.C. )  The top of mountain is at least 2,800 ft ( 300 m ) long and 1,050 ft ( 900 m ) across.  In 40 B.C. under King Herod Masada became a heavily fortified and self-sufficient palace which could maintain 10,000 solders and withstand nearly any attack.

By Roman permission King Herod was allowed to rule Judea and his forty year reign was exceptionally brutal and cruel. This did much to encourage growing discontent in the region. Later when Herod died and the Romans were heavily occupied in other parts of the Empire Masada was relegated to the status of a minor outpost. In 66 A.D. the Jewish people openly revolted. In response Rome sent the Syrian governor at the head of a legion to restore order, instead of achieving this however he was defeated. In the wake of this event the Romans crushed all resistance in the region and destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. However, the leader of the zealots Eleazar ben Jair and some of his followers escaped and overwhelmed the small garrison at Masada. The Romans now firmly in control of Judea knew they had to re-take Masada and kill or capture the zealots, especially their leader, to end Jewish resistance for good so they dispatched the elite X legion under Flavius Silva to assault the mighty fortress.

This was no small undertaking since a narrow winding snake path was the only way to reach the top of Masada and it could only be approached during the early morning since the sun became unbearably hot later in the day. The defenders were superbly protected and well motivated, able to shower the attacking soldiers with arrows, rocks and other projectiles at will.  Repeated assaults were made for two years while slaves built a massive earthen ramp to the top. While the details of the end of the siege are debatable it's clear that the fortress fell to the Romans despite the heroic resistance of the defenders.

Siege of Jerusalem, AD 70

Timeline for Major Events

Artillery

Personal Missile Weapons

Sling

Amentum

Sling-staff

Longbow

Composite bow

Derived from Oriental composite bows these "Turkish pattern" bows were some of the most lethal missile weapons of ancient times. The bow measured 3 ft, 9 in. in length along its outer curve reducing to 3 ft, 2 inch when fitted with a 2 ft, 11 inch bowstring. Firing a 1 ounce 2 ft, 4½ in long standard war arrow the composite bow required a pull of 120 pounds to bring the bowstring fully back. Targets could be engaged at 350 - 400 yards ( 320 - 365 m ) and using special light target arrows distances of up to 800 yards ( 730 m ) have been registered. The Parthians used these weapons with great skill from horseback and this was one of the primary reasons that Rome stopped its push eastward at the Tigres river. The slaughter of 45,000 men commanded by Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae was under a day long hail of arrows fired by 10,000 mounted archers.

Manuballista This is a hand held crossbow type device. A iron framed weapon employing torsion the Manuballista was cocked ( made ready to fire ) by pressing down heavily against a pad at the back. Early versions known as "belly bows" appear on Trajan's column.

Artillery Engines

Collectively called catapults individual types of Roman artillery inherited their Greek names. Iron bolt and arrow throwing engines were called euthytonos, the smallest of these scorpions. Weapons which hurled stones were known as palintonos due to a resemblance to the palintonos composite bow. In the first century A.D. the stone throwing palintonos became known as ballista ballistae and the term euthytonos was dropped altogether with all arrow and bolt firing weapons being called catapults catapultae. The third century saw the widespread use of the Onager ( scorpion ) a larger and simpler type of stone throwing engine. Around this time artillery which launched arrows came to be called ballista.

These missile throwing weapons were heavily deployed especially in sieges and assaults. Artillery fire always opened an assault and was directed mostly at the battlements and defenses to clear them of defenders so the legionaries could attack. In a formation called the Testudo Roman legionaries held their shields overhead edge to edge as they advanced towards a fortification thereby deflecting even large missile weapons quite effectively. At the siege of Jerusalem 300 ballista and 40 catapults were deployed. Near the end of the Roman Empire each century fielded a ballista and every cohort a catapult. This gave a typical legion 60 ballistae and 10 catapults as artillery. Over 400 horses were required to transport all of these missile weapons. A Centurion commanded the artillery of a cohort while a Tribune would be in charge of an entire Legion's artillery.

Onager The Onager ( "wild ass" ) deployed in the third century AD was a powerful torsion powered catapult throwing stones up to 60 lb ( 27 kg ) with considerable force and accuracy.

Roman Naval Warfare

During the reign of Augustus two main naval bases were established - one at Ravenna and one at Misenum. Detachments later appeared throughout the Mediterranean and along the Rhine and Danube rivers. Service in the fleet was for 26 years after which sailors received citizenship. Water ways were patrolled to control piracy and keep shipments of supplies and troops free to go where they were needed.

Fleet commanders were Praefecti from the equestrian class. Naval squadron commanders seem to have been given the title Navarch and ship captains Trierarchs. Each ship also had a Centurio with his Optio and full staff and a detachment of infantry. The dual commands of the Trierarchs and Centurions likely resulted in some friction on board.

The Roman Navy never really gained a large degree of status or strength in the Empire. Indeed it would not be until the third century that any serious naval challenge would appear and then its decline along with the rest of the military prevented any great or lasting victories. Occassionally under some circumstances sailors were used or drafted into use as recruits for the legions.

The Quinquereme
Length: 120 ft ( 37 m )
Beam: 14 ft ( 4 m )
Beam: 17 ft ( 5 m )
Draught: 4 - 5 ft ( 1.2 - 1.5 m )

Crew:

Oarsmen:
Lower Deck: 50
Middle Deck: 108
Upper Deck: 112

Sailors: 30
Marines: 40 - 120

Copied from the standard Carthaginian ship known as a "Five" the Quinquereme was built in huge numbers by the Romans giving them an instant navy.  Despite this they faired badly in early sea engagements with Carthage.  No masters of ramming and precise maneuver the Romans utilized a large boarding plank called a Corvus.  By dropping this plank onto an enemy ship Roman marines could cross two abreast behind shield and weapons, then their superiority in close combat prevailed helping secure victory in several key naval battles.  Sometimes a siege tower was mounted on two ships which had been lashed together, giving the Romans greater water based firepower.

The Corvus
Length: 36 ft ( 11 m )
Width: 4 ft ( 1.1 m )
Post Height: 24 ft ( 7 m )
Height of side-rail: 2 ft (.65 m )

Roman Emperors

Augustus Ceaser

Emperor Caligula

Tiberius, Rome's Second Emperor

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Bibliography

Encyclopedia of The Roman Empire by Matthew Bunson published by Oxford University Press - Copyright 1991

A Dictionary of Military History by John Childs Edited by Andre Corvisier and translated from French by Chris Turner Original French text Copyright Presses Universitaires de France 1988 English edition Copyright John Childs 1994

Caesar's conquest of Gaul by Don Nardo published by Lucent Books, Inc. Copyright 1996

The Roman Republic by Don Nardo published by Lucent Books, Inc. Copyright 1996

The Roman Empire by Don Nardo published by Lucent Books, Inc. Copyright 1996

Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry published by University of Oklahoma Press, Norman Copyright 1995

Early Roman Armies by Nick Sekunda Simon Northwood and Richard Hook published by Reed Internatinal Books Ltd. 1995

The Roman Army From Handrian To Constantine by Michael Simkins and Ronald Embleton published by Reed International Books Ltd. 1979

The Roman Way 1932

World History Series 1994

Command A Historical Dictionary of Military Leaders 1988

A History of The Ancient World  Starr, Chester G. 1991