Ancient Warfare - The History Files

Roman Artillery I

Late Roman artillery at the Saxon shore.

The legionaries were well equipped with artillery: a figure of around 60 machines per legion is found in both Josephus (Jewish War 3.166) and Vegetius (2.25). The machines were of various sizes: Trajan’s Column shows both man-portable boltthrowers (manuballistae, cheiroballistrae) and those mounted on a mule-drawn carriage (carroballistae) (Scenes 65-66). Range and accuracy were impressive: at Hod Hill in Dorset, a hill-fort probably captured by Legio II Augusta in ad 43, 17 bolt-heads have been found, still embedded in the chalk where they struck. Eleven had hit Hut 37 (dubbed by archaeologists the “Chieftan’s Hut”), landing in a ten-meter circle, including four that landed in a three-meter circle, all from an estimated range of 170 meters. Of the six other shots it is likely that some at least were initial ranging shots, from which the firers corrected their aim. A reconstructed cheiroballistra has achieved similar results. Although crucial in sieges and assaults, artillery was used in field battles too: at Cremona in ad 69, an “enormous ballista,” of the Fifteenth Legion threw “huge” stones at the Flavian army; only by disguising themselves with the shields of fallen Vitellian troops did two bold individuals put it out of action, by cutting the twisted cord springs which provided its torsion (Tacitus, Hist. 3.25) – a key vulnerability of such machines.

The Roman Theatre of Carthago Nova and Cathedral ruins of Cartagena.

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus spent the winter of 210–209 BCE strengthening ties with the local tribes and gathering intelligence on his intended target. Novo Carthago was the primary port of entry for whatever assistance came from Carthage: it held the treasury, it contained a massive armory, and it was where the hostages held to assure the cooperation of the Spanish tribes were kept. Further, it was the primary manufacturing center, especially for weapons. On the surface, Scipio’s attacking the main Carthaginian base seemed rather foolish given his relatively small force.

The Origins of Counterinsurgency in Assyria and Rome

Most ancient empires responded to the threat of guerrilla warfare, whether waged by nomads from the outside or rebels from the inside, with the same strategy. It can be boiled down to one simple word: terror. Ancient monarchs sought to inflict as much suffering as possible to put down and deter armed challenges. Since, with a few exceptions such as Athens and the Roman Republic, ancient polities were monarchies or warrior states, rather than constitutional republics, they seldom felt bound by any moral scruples or by any need to appease public opinion—neither “public opinion” nor “human rights” being concepts that they would have understood. (The former phrase was not coined until the eighteenth century, the latter not until the twentieth, although the ideas they describe have been traced back to ancient Greece.)

The Assyrians, who starting in 1100 BC conquered a domain stretching a thousand miles from Persia to Egypt, were particularly grisly in their infliction of terror. King Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 BC) had inscribed on his royal residence an account of what he did after recapturing the rebellious city of Suru:

Diadochi Elephants

217 BC – During the Wars of the Diadochi at the Battle of Raphia, Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt with 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 war elephants fought the army of Antiochus III. The Antiochids suffered just under 10,000 foot dead, about 300 horse and 5 elephants; 4,000 men were taken prisoner. The Ptolemaic losses were 1,500 foot, 700 horse and 16 elephants. Most of the Antiochid elephants were taken by the Ptolemies.

Alexander collected hundreds of elephants, set them around his palace in Babylon, and appointed a military commander to oversee their training. He died before he could use them.

Elephants presented unusual problems for the army. Aside from the vast quantities of fodder required by a division of elephants, the beasts also produced a massive amount of biological waste. The elephants’ primitive alimentary system digests less than half of the food eaten: the rest is deposited unceremoniously on the ground.