Also a catapult ball and the remains of a scorpion weapon (smaller version of the ballista ) of Roman origins were identified during the archaeological excavations in the territory of Muro Leccese , in Messapian land. The promoters of the excavations made it known through multiple photo updates published on the Facebook Page:
With the annexation of the Greek city-states in 146 BC, Hellenistic culture began to spread in the Roman Republic . Roman engineers snatched up the Macedonian-invented torsion ballista technology and later developed it into smaller designs in 50 BC, the Scorpions , so they could be easily transported to the battlefield. Generally the length of a scorpion’s darts was standardized at 3 spans(69 cm), which could be accurately thrown to a distance of 100 meters, while the effective range was 400 meters. During the Republican and Imperial ages, it was the norm for each centuria to have a typical number of scorpions and ballistae. The scorpions were positioned in batteries on high ground in order to thin out the opposing troops and weaken the enemy. This type of weapon was widely used by Julius Caesar in the military campaign in Gaul and especially during the siege of Avaricum . The small size allowed the weapon to be used also on wagons, thus taking the name of carroballista . Reproductions in bas-relief can be seen on Trajan’s Column .
To give you an idea of how a Roman “Scorpio” could work, we report below the link to a video spread on the web which documents a realistic re-enactment of the ancient weapon:
Another video:
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