Battering Rams, Ancient Roman Warfare
Colored illustration of The Battering Ram in Ancient Roman Warfare. This is the earliest, simplest, most effective device for destroying stone walls and the ordinary defenses of fortified towns. The primitive ram was a huge beam of seasoned and tough wood, hoisted on the shoulders of men. Running with it at full speed against a wall, gate, or palisade, they did what damage they could with one charge after another. Ancient armies used two different kinds of battering ram, one type was suspended and swinging, like a pendulum, and the other moved on rollers. Battering rams had an important effect on the evolution of defensive walls, which were constructed ever more ingeniously in a bid to nullify the effects of siege engines. Historical instances of the usage of battering rams in sieges of major cities include: destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Crusades, the fall of Rome and the siege of Constantinople
