BATTERING See also:

• RAM
• RAM, PIERRE FRANCOIS XAVIER DE (18o4-1865)

RAM (See also:

• LAT

Lat. (pies, ram)  , a military See also:

• ENGINE
• ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

engine used before the invention of See also:

• CANNON (a word common to Romance languages, from the Lat. canna, a reed, tube, with the addition of the augmentative termination -on, -one)

cannon, for beating down the walls of besieged fortresses . It consisted of a See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long heavy See also:

• BEAM
• BEAM (from the O. Eng. beam, cf. Ger. Baum, a tree, to which sense may be referred the use of " beam " as meaning the rood or crucifix, and the survival in certain names of trees, as horn-beam)

beam of See also:

• TIMBER

timber, armed at the extremity with See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron fashioned something like the See also:

• HEAD (in 0. Eng. heafad; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch hoofd, Ger. Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with Lat. caput, Gr. KerbOvi7)
• HEAD, SIR EDMUND WALKER, BART
• HEAD, SIR FRANCIS BOND, BART

head of a See also:

• RAM
• RAM, PIERRE FRANCOIS XAVIER DE (18o4-1865)

ram . In its simplest See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form the beam was carried in the hands of the soldiers, who assailed the walls with it by See also:

• MAIN (from the Aryan root which appears in " may " and " might," and Lat. magnus, great)
• MAIN (Lat. Moenus)

main force . The improved ram was composed of a longer beam, in some cases extending to 12o ft., shod with iron at one end, and suspended, either by the See also:

• MIDDLE

middle or from two points, from another beam laid across two posts . This is the See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind described by See also:

• JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS (c. 37-C. 95?)

Josephus as having been used at the See also:

• SIEGE (0. Fr. sege, siege, mod. siege, seat, ultimately from sedere, to sit, cf. Class. Lat. obsidium, a siege)

siege of See also:

• JERUSALEM (Heb. ^S0-r, Yerushalaim, pronounced as a dual)
• JERUSALEM, SYNOD OF (1672)

Jerusalem (B.J. iii . 7 . 19) . The ram was shielded from the missiles of the besieged by a See also:

• PENTHOUSE

penthouse (vinea) or other overhead See also:

• PROTECTION

protection . It was often mounted on wheels, which greatly facilitated its operations . A See also:

• HUNDRED

hundred soldiers at a See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time, and sometimes even a greater number, were employed to See also:

• WORK

work it, and the parties were relieved in See also:

• CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant See also:

• SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession . No See also:

• WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the original O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
• WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

wall could resist the continued application of the ram, and the greatest efforts were always made to destroy it by various means, such as dropping heavy stones on the head of the ram and on the roof of the penthouse; another method being to seize the ram head with grapnels and then haul it up to a See also:

• VERTICAL (from Lat. vertex, highest point)

vertical position by suitable windlasses on the wall of the fortress . Sometimes the besieged ran countermines under the ram pent-See also:

• HOUSE
• HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

house; this if successful would cause the whole engine to fall into the excavation .

In See also:

• MEDIEVAL

medieval warfare the See also:

• LOW, SETH (1850- )
• LOW, WILL HICOK (1853- )

low penthouse, called See also:

• CAT
• CAT, CIVET
• CAT, HOUSE

cat, was generally employed with some form of ram .