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Thu, 08/04/2005 - 11:45am
#1
Roman drawbridges?
I'm just reading [i:]Clothar[/i:], and have come across drawbridges. I've never heard of Roman drawbridges, yet there is an acute description of how they work in the book. I think that some people would be persuaded that there were Roman drawbridges, but I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, unless anyone can tell me other wise; reference would be appreciated :whistle:
Hi, Mrs. Grumpy.
In a few terse, succinct sentences, you have given the impression that your nom-de-plume is appropriate.
Check out the fortifications known as the Forts of the Saxon Shore, on the south-eastern coasts of Britain. They are castles built by the Roman armies in Britain in the Third century AD to defend the coast line against the escalating invasions from beyond the North Sea. Thay all had drawbridges.
The Romans invented drawbridges, and everything elsewith very few and very minor exceptionsthat was used in siege warfare throughout the Middle Ages and into relatively modern times, and by the fourth century AD, counterbalancing weight technology, as in the drawbridge I have specified in "Clothar," was old hat to them. They were the greatest engineers in history when it came to handling massive volumes of water, and they applied that same analytical genius to the technology of warfare, both offensive and defensive.
Jack Whyte
Mr Whtye,
I can find no evidence for Roman drawbridges. If there's a book I can read Roman engineering with specific regard to drawbridges, please point me to it. I am well aware of Roman engineering regarding water, and am incapable of underestimating the Romans.
Regarding the Saxon Shore [i:]forts[/i:]: a couple of these forts were refitted and made into [i:]castles[/i:] in the medieval period (11th-15th century), and this is when they may have gained drawbridges.
btw, I do think you're very good at [i:]world building[/i:] (eg. http://www.io.com/~eighner/world_builder/world_builder_index.html), in the speculative fiction sense. But what does my opinion count for?:blush:
Eh! Bambu spears? I haven't got that far in the book yet :evil:
Mrs Grumpy :kiss:
Bringing grumpiness to the world
I've run across a few instances of Roman drawbridges, but all of them were in reference to actual river locations, intended to serve as an aid to navigation, not as part of a fortification.
In fairness, however, the fort in "Clothar" is not a Roman construct.
Regards,
Chief Scott
Hope this helps, in the city of Arles in France (Romans called it Arelate I think) there was a bridge originally built by romans that has drawbridges within towers at each end. The Romans are given credit I believe for these structures. The bridge itself was a floating bridge that was tethered to two large towers upstream. I saw an artists rendering of what it looked like when standing while there. It was built in this fashion as frequent floods would not allow them to build a permanent bridge. Also their are plenty of references to Romans using drawbridges upon their naval ships to make boarding an enemy ship easier, so they had the knowledge.
abutcher53
This question has caused me to actually look into this topic of drawbridges and the romans and here is what I have found.
Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman empire from Rome to the town of Byzantium in 324 AD. Upon doing this he built a huge fortification around th town that included fourteen miles of defensive walls, 400 towers and a moat. As the terrain was hilly the moat was sectioned by dams, and could be crossed by the public at one of five drawbridges that were set narrowly into the walls. I got this from http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blconstantinople/
abutcher53
abutcher: That's great! Thank you very much, :)
Bringing grumpiness to the world
abitcher-
Great Link!
Regards,
Chief Scott
Whoops Chief Scott, I bet right about now you wish that the editing function was working on this board. :pinch:
No worries, it happens quite a bit, as the I and the U are next to eachother on the keyboard, my last name sometimes ends up quite humerous.
abutcher
I do apologize...in the abscense of an edit feature, I promise to make better use of the preview function.
Regards,
Chief Scott