The ballista, plural ballistae, sometimes called a bolt thrower, was an ancient projectile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it worked by using two levers with torsion springs, made of twisted skeins of cord, rather than the tension bow of a crossbow. Early ballistae projected heavy darts or stone projectiles for siege warfare, and the design later developed into a smaller precision weapon called the scorpio.
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The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ballistra and that from βάλλω ballō, "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called a bolt thrower, was an ancient projectile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target.
Introduction
The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ballistra and that from βάλλω ballō, "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called a bolt thrower, was an ancient projectile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target.
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Associated With: Vitruvius, Wikipedia lead, paragraph 4Quote, Associated With: Vitruvius, Wikipedia lead, paragraph 4
As an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges.
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