What is the purpose of this Roman siege tactic as shown in this Illustration?
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Accepted answer
I am imagining the picture is stylized and not drawn to scale.
Depending on how close the shield on the ramp was placed to the gates of the city, the shield would do two things:
- Offer some protection to the attacking side from arrows and other projectiles dispatched by the defenders.
- Hide the attackers from the defenders so the defenders didn't know what the attackers might have been planning, or how imminent an attack from the ramp would be. Surprise is always useful when attacking.
The defenders may have been able to fire flaming arrows at the shield in the hope of trying to destroy it by burning. This would require the shield to be within range, the archers to have the presence of mind to shoot flaming arrows.
As to the defense of the shield against such fire attacks:
- Monitors for the attackers could be waiting to extinguish any fires
- If the attackers were smart and had the resources the side of the shield could be covered with sheets of metal to deflect any arrows to minimized the potential for successful fire arrow attacks.
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