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Μονάγκων and onager: A new look at an old problem

2018, C. Sebastian Sommer, Suzana Matešić (Hrsg.). Limes XXIII: Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies Ingolstadt 2015 (Akten des 23. Internationalen Limeskongresses in Ingolstadt 2015). Beiträge zum Welterbe Limes, Mainz

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References (82)

  • Amm. Marc. XXIII, 4.
  • Apparently, it was a one-armed machine that Tertullian mentioned under this name in AD 209 (Tert. scorp. 1-2).
  • Veg. mil. II, 25; III, 3; IV, 8, 22, 44.
  • Theophanes Conf., Chronographia a. m. 5841; Chron. Pasch. (Dindorf) p. 537, 17. Defenders of Nisibis used onagri to destroy the elephants attacking a breach in the wall. Cf. Veg. mil., III, 24; Julian, Or., II, 65d-66a.
  • Procop. Goth. I, 21, 19.
  • Philon Pol. 91, 36.
  • 9 Amm. Marc. XIX, 2, 7; 7, 6-7; XX, 7, 10; XXXI, 15, 12.
  • Veg. mil. II, 25; III, 3; IV, 8-9, 22.
  • See the discussion in Brennan 1980, 555.
  • Apoll. Pol. W188, 2-9; Anon. Byz. Pol. W252, 17-254, 6.
  • De Folard 1727, 324-336.
  • Grose 1788, 302.
  • Dufour 1840, 43-48, 75-79, 120, pl. 5, fig. 10. 16 Chew 2001, 230.
  • Campbell 2003, 46; Chew 2001, 229, fig. 5; Hennebert 1887, 3, fig. 1.
  • Payne-Gallwey 1903, 279-299, fig. 202; Payne-Gallwey 1907, 10-18, fig. 1; Credland 2011, 62-63, 65-66, figs. 12, 13a-b, 16a-b.
  • Payne-Gallwey 1903, 267, 277, figs. 187, 192.
  • De machinis (Ms. Lat. 7239, BnF, Paris). The Bavarian manuscript does not in- clude it, either (CLM 28800, BSB, Munich).
  • Mérimée 1851, fol. 22r-22v, pl. 11.
  • Schramm 1910, 34-37; Schramm 1916, 231-233; Schramm 1918a, 70-74; Schramm 1918b, 259-272; Marsden 1971, 249-265.
  • 23 The tension force of the torsion bundle of Schramm's onager reached 60 tons (Schramm 1910, 35).
  • Schramm 1918a, 70-71, Abb. 33-34, Taf. 10; Schramm 1918b, Abb. 14; Marsden 1971, pl. 14.
  • Here we should mention the work of Marc Cherretté. Unfortunately, his strange "reconstruction" is completely divorced from the historical context and is almost impossible to comment (Cherretté 2002, 117-133).
  • Schramm 1918b, 268; Marsden 1971, 251; Boeft et al. 1998, 64; Den Hengst 1999, 32; Rihll 2007, 245.
  • For Late Antique concepts of the heavenly firmament and its axis see e. g. Isi- dore of Seville (Etym. III, 33, 36-38).
  • Schramm 1918a, 73; Schramm 1918b, 268, 270; Marsden 1971, 252.
  • Marsden 1971, 252, figs. 2-3.
  • 32 Schramm 1918b, 263; Lendle 1975, 94-95; Lendle 1983, 27.
  • Ms. 92, Christ Church, Oxford.
  • Pal. Lat. 1888, BAV, Vatican. 35 CPV 3069, ÖNB, Vienna.
  • Schmidtchen 1987, 27-30; Baatz 2001, 11. Schmidtchen provides two original Late Medieval illustrations, but claims that they expose the lack of technical knowledge of their authors. Following Payne-Gallwey, Schmidtchen then refers to a non-existent drawing from the Mariano Taccola's Paris manuscript. 39 Purton 2006, 89.
  • For a similar opinion, see Purton 2010, 273-274.
  • Hs. 25801, GNM, Nürnberg, fol. 19v. Unfortunately, the Alemannic rhymed text of the treatise does not provide a detailed description of the machine, not to mention this particular part.
  • Marsden 1971, 255-256.
  • 43 On the action of this machine, see the description of the storming of Vetera by the Batavians (Tac. hist. IV, 30) and also Aeneas Tacticus (De obs. tol. XXX- IX, 6).
  • Marsden 1971, 252; Schramm 1918b, 270.
  • Fontaine 1977, 87, fig. 2; Drachmann 1972, 494.
  • Schramm 1910, 34; Schramm 1918a, 73; Schramm 1918b, 270; Marsden 1971, 252.
  • Drachmann 1972, 494.
  • Amm. Marc. XX, 3, 11.
  • Den Hengst 1999, 32; Boeft et al. 1998, 67.
  • Campbell 2003, 43, pl. G.
  • Hart/Lewis 1986, 356-357, 359.
  • Schramm 1910, 34, n. 1; Schramm 1918a, 73, n. 1.
  • Amm. Marc. XIX, 2, 7; 7, 6-7; XXIV, 4, 28; XIX, 15, 12.
  • Heron Bel. W93, 7.
  • Cilicium, a rough cloth made of goat's wool used for making the buffer, was often stretched on ropes on battlements for protection against projec- tiles (cilicia -Veg. mil. IV, 6, κιλίκια -Mauric. strat. X, 3). Maurice also re- peatedly mentions it when he talks about protecting carriages of a wagon train (strat. XII, B, 6; 18), as well as the ballistae on the dromons (strat. XII, B, 21).
  • "In 2007, we worked […] to make a revolutionary torsion design. In short, we decided to raise our rope bundle, and allow ourselves to have a nearly 180 degree pull down. This allowed us to generate tremendous power and gave us flexibility to tuck our sling underneath the machine, like a tradition- al catapult or trebuchet. This slowed down the acceleration on the pump- kin, and allowed us to launch plain watermelons over 1,800 ft -something that would be entirely impossible in a traditional mangonel style catapult." <http://romanreveng3.tumblr.com/07> (accessed 30.04.2016).
  • Apparently, the rhymed text of the Nuremberg manuscript specifies the length of the sling: it should come all the way up to the torsion bundle, i. e. to equal the length of the sling end of the arm (Hs. 25801, GNM, Nürnberg, fol. 20r).
  • Marsden 1971, 260.
  • Hs. 25801, GNM, Nürnberg, fol. 19v.
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