Home The Roman Battering Ram
        The battering-ram, was used to shake, punch holes, and batter down the walls of cities and forts. It was a large beam, made from the trunk of a tree, especially of a fir or an ash. To one end was fastened a mass of bronze or iron, which  resembled the head of a ram. In an  improved form, the ram was surrounded with iron bands.Rings were attached for  suspending it by ropes or  chains from a beam fixed above it .This way soldiers did not have to support the weight of the ram, and they could give it a rapid and forcible motion backwards and forwards.There was also a beam with an iron hook which was put into a hole in the wall made by the ram and stones would be dragged out. Also, there was a smaller
 iron point used for prying out individual stones.
        The frame was also placed on  wheels, and a wooden roof constructed over it, so as to form a "testudo" or "turtle shell"  which protected the attacking soldiers from the stones and arrows of those inside the city or fort. An eyewitness described the effect of the ram - " that there was no tower so strong, no wall so thick, as to resist the force of this  machine, if its actions were continued long enough. The beam of the ram was often of great length ( 80, 100, or even 120 feet). This way it could reach across a ditch, and allow those who worked the machine to remain in safety. A hundred men, or even a greater number, were sometimes used to push and pull the beam. The ram first became an important military weapon in the hands of the Greeks, at the time of Philip and Alexander the Great, though it was known even earlier.  The Romans learned  from the Greeks the art of building these machines, and appear to have used them for the first time  in the second Punic war.