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Details
LOT 1079
Roman Limestone Ballista Catapult Shot
1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.
3 7/8 in. (1.5 kg, 97 mm).
Suitable for use with an onager or other catapult-type siege weapon; with roughened, abrasive surface. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.
Literature
See Wilkins, A., Roman Imperial Artillery, Solway Print, 2017.
Footnotes
The operation of the onager (Latin for 'wild ass') is first mentioned in 353 A.D. by Ammianus Marcellinus in his Res Gestae and more fully in Vegetius's Epitoma Rei Militaris probably written in the reign of Emperor Theodosius I (378-395 A.D.).
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