Catapults The romans did not know about gunpowder, so they had no big guns to fire at their enemies. but they did have catapults. First there the slingshot fired by specially trained soldiers. The slingshot stone balls or small round lead bullets. You whirled the slingshot round above your head, then let go and sent the shot flying. It could knock a man out or killl him at close range! Then there were there were the big catpults. To be absololutely correct, roman catapults fired arrows. The ones that fired stones were called ballisters. There was one massive catpult which could fire a 100 kilo javelin 400 meters. Their best ballisters could fling a 200kg stone ball 500 meters (though 50 meters was more usual)! All of these made besieging a fort rather more interesting. The catapults could shoot burning arrows into the enemy fort, so set fire to their buildings. the enemy did not stand a chance.
| Basic Equipment
The legionary's personal weapons were two javelins, a sword and a dagger. His sword was very important, It was light and short (no more than 50 cm) so soldiers can use it for stabbing quickly.The legionary wore his sword high on the right side of his body. This enabled it to be drawn underarm with his right hand without interfering with the shield which he carried in his left. A soldier carried two spears to throw at the enemy. The spears were just over two metres* long and they were designed to bend and stick in the enemy's shield so he cannot use it to protect himself. They were difficult to pull out and will bend on impact, so they couldn't be thrown back at the attacking Roman soldiers. The roman army made their weapons by digging metal out the ground and moulding it by melting it. The Roman Empire's population was 653,096. This was when Julius Caesar controlled Rome. | |||||||||
