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Message: <blockquote data-quote="underfoot007" data-source="post: 4351117" data-attributes="member: 68982">I found this from a web site, I think it would take many minutes to set up? -----------  The ballista is a siege weapon, invented by the <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/ancient%2520greece" target="_blank">ancient Greeks</a>, and quickly adopted by the <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/roman%2520army" target="_blank">roman army</a>. The ballista resembles a large <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/crossbow" target="_blank">crossbow</a>, mounted upon a large-based monopod stand, allowing the weapon to be aimed without needing to be picked up. The Roman version was intended as an infantry support weapon, the various versions having a span of four to eight <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/feet" target="_blank">feet</a> across, enabling it to be carried around by its operators, and used in rough terrain. The <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/ballista" target="_blank">ballista</a> was the largest siege weapon to see regular use in the roman invasion of <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/Britain" target="_blank">Britain</a>Unlike a crossbow, the tension in a ballista is stored not it the arms, which are wide and rigid, but in large bundles of <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/rope" target="_blank">rope</a> or <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/sinew" target="_blank">sinew</a> at the front of the machine. It was <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/draw" target="_blank">draw</a>n using a system of levers that pulled a trolley (that held the bolt holder) back over a ratchet, and a <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/trigger" target="_blank">trigger</a> that detatched the bolt holder from the trolley. The ballista fires a five foot wooden <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/bolt" target="_blank">bolt</a>, with a steel tip, capable of penetrating almost anything the army would have to face on the <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/battlefield" target="_blank">battlefield</a>. The ballista could even be used in a <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/seige" target="_blank">seige</a>, firing bolts through the walls and roofs of <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/hill%2520forts" target="_blank">hill forts</a>. <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/Skeleton" target="_blank">Skeleton</a>s of ballista <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/casualties" target="_blank">casualties</a> have been found, with ballista tips embedded between <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/vertebra" target="_blank">vertebra</a>e, and square holes in their <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/skull" target="_blank">skull</a> where a ballista bolt had gone straight through.Modern <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/replica" target="_blank">replica</a>s of the ballista have been created using the same materials and techniques available to the <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/Roman" target="_blank">Roman</a>s, and skilled operators have shown the machine to be capable of firing three or more bolts per minute, over a range of five hundred meters or more. The Romans also used a repeating ballista, which automatically <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/load" target="_blank">load</a>ed and <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/fire" target="_blank">fire</a>d the weapon, the operators only having to turn the handle. Replicas of this <a href="http://www.everything2.com/title/repeating%2520ballista" target="_blank">repeating ballista</a> can fire twelve or so shots per minute.</blockquote>

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