Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Roman missiles? Message-ID: <7214@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 7 Jun 89 03:36:46 GMT References: <7100@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 28 Approved: military@att.att.com From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) In article <7100@cbnews.ATT.COM>, jharper%euroies.ucd.ie%CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Jerry Harper) writes: > > From: Jerry Harper > I have just finished a translation of Livy's account of the second Punic war. > Some of the battles I recalled from my Latin classes of many years ago, but > I cannot remember what exactly the translator (Aubrey de Selincourt) could > have meant by "missiles", as carried by the light infantry and legionaires, > excepting the standard *pilum* and light spears. Could anyone enlighten me > as to the other types of missiles provided to the Roman infantry man? The Roman engineers either carried along (if small) or built on the spot (if sizable) various projectile seige devices. A not-too-ancient Scientific American cover article was on the development of the crossbow. Part of it described Roamn developments in low-drag projectiles. Instead of using a long, slender shaft with fletching (high drag, but a *lot* easier to use with a normal bow), they developed several short bolts with somewhat complexly varying cross-sections. The bolts had much less drag than normal arrows, with comparable accuracy. Sorry I don't remember the issue date. The article referred to a number of previous publications and books on the subject. seh