Friday, March 15, 2002

Today is the Ides of March, the midpoint of what was originally the first month of the Roman calendar. And the namesake of the month is Mars, the god of war.

So here are some Roman instruments of war, recreated by Atlas Studios for the movie Gladiator. The one on the left appears to be the spring-type catapult (where tension was achieved by twisting a heavy rope), which the Romans borrowed from the Greeks. On the right is a gravity-powered trébuchet.

In November, I visited the Shellah, the site of a 1st century Roman settlement. One day soon, I'll post some pictures of Volubilis, the Roman ruins just north of Meknes.