Minimalist wrote:Nor...I daresay....would he care!
Oh yes he would! It's great chatting with enquiring minds!
Minimalist wrote:Let us just hope that they don't have exploding field artillery as the Romans did in the opening scene of Gladiator!
Re: 'Gladiator' They could have shown another weapon system, a system that was used on the Maiden Castle (Dorset) assault! But no-one would have believed it!) The Repeating Ballista 'Roman technicians developed the repeating ballista. A cam was used to move a magazine of bolts , one at a time, into position and also tensioned the rope that fired the bolts. This was very much like a Gatling gun used in the American west of the late 19th century. It was a most fearsome weapon, but not so practical as the lesser machine. This was due to the nature of the machine that caused the bolts to land in a close target area. It could not easily be moved a few degrees between shots as the single shot version could'.
I've seen a reconstruction demonstrated! It WAS effective!!
The roundhouses used by the Celts had one central opening. On Maiden Castle the Celts had built a system of anti-chariot defences. The Romans simply lined up their 'Gattling Guns' and aimed them on the hut doors! The result would have been something like training a machine gun on the ramp door of a landing craft (as in Saving Private Ryan) 'This Celtic warrior would have been in agony with a ballista bolt lodged in his spine. His torment would have been ended by a Roman sword' 'This Celt would probably never have known he had been hit by a ballista bolt. Note the lack of cracks around the entry point. Such was the speed of impact, it cut a neat square hole in his skull'
Last edited by Mike Jupp on Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:00 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Returning to the Amphora, I can see that the pointed base might dig into the ground etc, but to make them stable you'd have to half bury the damned things. Either that or you'd lose a lot of wine. Did they have racks for storage on land as well? How do you make the damn things?
From Wikipedia. In the discussion of the carroballista, below, they overlook the obvious advantage that the weapon would be elevated and thus able to fire over the heads of the legionaries into the ranks of an oncoming enemy.
The carroballista
The Carroballista was a cart-mounted version of the weapon. This gave it a great deal of flexibility and much more ability as a battlefield weapon, since the increased maneuverability allowed it to be moved with the flow of the battle. This weapon features several times on Trajan's Column.
The polybolos
According to some sources, the Roman military, at one time in its history, also fielded 'repeating' ballistae, also known as a polybolos. Reconstruction and trials of such a weapon carried out in a BBC documentary 'What the Romans Did For Us' showed that they "were able to shoot eleven bolts a minute, which is almost four times the rate at which an ordinary ballista can be operated".[1] However, this has not yet been found archaeologically.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Digit wrote:Returning to the Amphora, I can see that the pointed base might dig into the ground etc, but to make them stable you'd have to half bury the damned things. Either that or you'd lose a lot of wine. Did they have racks for storage on land as well? How do you make the damn things?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Neat arrangement Min. But for storage purposes I still think it's a damn stupid shape. Storage space on board ship is at a premium and the volume lost by that wierd shape must be quite considerable. As regards the suggestion it makes it easy to stand in sand etc I have to confess I think that is total rubbish, flat bottom jars would be more stable, easier to make and give greater volume in the available storage space.
If the amphora was such a wonderful idea why was it dumped?
To me, used as I was to finding answers to problems, I think the reason for the shape has nothing to do with storage and everything to do with carrying them. Any tall cyindrical bulk is a sod to carry because your feet get in the way, the tapered base is a very elegant solution to that problem and the bad backs and hernias that would tend to be the result of carrying most other shapes.
Any opinions anyone?
I suspect that sort of thing has limited application. Keeping in mind that amphorae were the "55 gallon drums" of antiquity, their contents would have been poured into more usable containers for retail work.
Even flat -bottomed amphorae standing in the hold of a ship would have smashed against each other in even moderate seas and we are talking pottery, here. The resulting mess and loss of profit would have been considerable. Hence the idea that racks were built to hold the amphorae in individual holders.
I have seen it suggested that the shape with the solid point was to give a handhold to pour the contents into smaller containers.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
I know nothing about pottery-making but it's probably a snap for someone who does.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
In Antiquity, the pass was more narrow than today, as you can see...
on this photo. The sea reached as far inland as the road on the right-hand side. To synchronize the attack on Thermopylae with the fight at Artemisium, Xerxes waited four days before he ordered his soldiers to attack the contemptibly small Greek garrison of 4,000 men. He first sent the Median and Elamite contingents, which were easily repelled by the defenders of the narrow road.
