11-17-2013, 09:03 PM
Quote:The one thing I have always wondered is that in your Osprey book (p. 20) you have listed the stone shots of various ancient arsenals. Among them are altogether 3 stone balls of around three talents.I listed all the "ballista balls" that were then published, Stefan. I know that larger boulders were discovered (e.g.) at Masada (see here; I have not yet digitized my own slide of these stones), but are usually assumed to have been for rolling/dropping. Actually, I tend to agree with this, as I cannot imagine that many people had the resources or the inclination to manufacture a ballista large enough to shoot these stones! (Demetrius Poliorcetes is an obvious exception, but even he seems to have stopped at 3 talents!)
(Incidentally, I see that, on p. 21, I am guilty of assuming that 3 talents was more or less the limit! :errr: Actually, I still stand by that. I cannot imagine who would have had the need to manufacture Vitruvius' 360-pounder!)
