Roman catapults in action - The Onager - Roman army display by The Ermine Street Guard

A display of Roman army war machines showing the deadly catapult, the onager. Watch the excellent Ermine Street Guard Roman reenactors using a reconstructed full-scale Roman catapult. My film includes interesting facts and information about the catapult.

A film for those of you who have been thinking about the Roman Empire....

Roman Artillery

The Roman Empire was built in part upon it’s military strengths. The Roman Army was a formidable force, efficient, organised, highly trained and with excellent equipment. Artillery was a key part of the success of the Roman army. Catapults gave the Romans an overwhelming advantage over their enemies, both in attack and defence. Warfare in Roman times was brutal and the Roman artillery was capable of inflicting death, injury and significant damage to the enemy.

Roman Britain

During the Romans invasion of Britain their method of attack was firstly an artillery assault to weaken the defences and enemy, followed by an infantry attack. There is evidence that catapults were used during the sieges of a number of hill forts by Vespasian and the Legion ll Augusta at Hod Hill and Maiden Castle, during the early stages of the Claudian invasion. The defences of the Briton’s hill forts were useless against the firepower of the Roman artillery. There is also evidence of artillery platforms being built on bastions at forts such as Richborough, designed to house defensive artillery.

Roman artillery came in many shapes and sizes. The Romans adapted and improved the original Greek designs. There were two types of artillery, the first using a crossbow principle (scorpio) and the second a heavy catapult (onager).

The Onager - means wild ass in Roman Latin, because this catapult packs a serious kick. The onager was technically fairly basic in design. It was built around a solid rectangular base frame upon which a vertical framework and crossbar stands, an arm was then pulled back to tighten a coiled rope that propelled it and the sling attached at the end, holding the missile, which was then released. Due to it’s size and weight The Onager was mainly used for sieges or to defend fortifications. It wasn’t popular with the Roman army in Britain, because of the difficulty in transporting it.

The Ermine Street Guard
The Roman re-enactors featured in this film are the excellent Ermine Street Guard who put on displays throughout the year at various Roman sites in Great Britain and Europe and are well worth going to see them in action. Check out their website for details:

http://www.erminestreetguard.co.uk/

They have been running since the 1970s and have established a strong reputation as
one of the leading groups of Roman Army reenactors, paying careful attention
to detail and authenticity of everything they do, including armour, weapons and
equipment. The displays include aspects of the Roman soldier's training, the shooting
of artillery pieces and a static army camp display. Occasionally they are also joined
by fully equipped Roman cavalrymen.

Music credits: Courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

To All the Glory by Howard Harper Barnes

March Towards the End by Bonnie Grace

Sound effects

Soldiers marching courtesy of soundbible.com

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