Onager (weapon)

Onager with a bowl bucket
Sketch of an onager with a sling, a later improvement that increased the length of the throwing arm, from Antique technology by Diels.

The onager (UK: /ˈɒnədʒə/, /ˈɒnəɡə/; US: /ˈɑːnədʒər/) was a Roman torsion-powered siege engine. It is a type of catapult commonly depicted with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. The onager was first mentioned in 353 AD by Ammianus Marcellinus, who described onagers as the same as a scorpion. The onager is often confused with the later mangonel, a "traction trebuchet" that replaced torsion powered siege engines in the 6th century AD.

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.