War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Weapons System

Carroballista

Ancient

The carroballista was an ancient cart-mounted ballista, a form of mobile field artillery used by the Roman army. According to the Roman author Vegetius, each legion fielded fifty-five carroballistae, arrow- and bolt-shooting weapons of the cheiroballistra type, each carried by mules and operated by a single contubernium. Surviving depictions of the weapon appear in the bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Howitzer / Artillery 1
Weapon Class (category)
Siege Engine 1
Classification
Service Status
Retired 1
Weapon Class
Siege Weapon 1
Connections

Operated By

Source Wikipedia: Carroballista
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Carroballista
  • Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
  • Lead sentence
    Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery.
  • Operated By: Roman Legion, Article text
    It seems that the technical innovations introduced by the adoption of the cheiroballistra by the Roman army at the end of the 1st century AD made the use of the cart possible.
View the Source
Wikidata: Carroballista
Wikidata Q3207150, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.