What weapon in Roman times terrified the enemy when it was first encountered?

Martin Guerra Vidal

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Updated April 14

obsessed with Roman History

Archimedes anti-siege engines.

When the Romans amphibiously besieged Syracuse on the second Punic war they encountered this incredible engines, the most notorious ones were cranes that hooked the roman ships, then a pulley system powered by oxen will pull it up with great strength, breaking the roman ships.

The Romans were so afraid of them that reportedly they avoided any section of the walls in which a crane was visible (many of them being just civilian ones).

Archimedes had long been funded by the tyrants (kings) of the city, Hiron II had started funding him to create defenses and great engines of war.

Unfortunately for the Syracusans the enemy was no common enemy, they were Romans lead by Marcus Claudius Marcellus (aka the sword of Rome), he prepared the eventual breach of the walls and lead the attack, he gave the orders of capturing Archimedes alive (since he was highly respected and valued) but the inventor was killed in the confusion.

Other weapons may have frightened the warriors (elephants and falcatas) but no other creation caused as much fear as Archimedes’ creations.

If you could scare someone like the Romans… you know you're good.

Edit: by the way, it would hook the ramming head, that more often than not was broader on the tip than in the neck or was a protuberance on the hull.

This is the ramming head:

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