02-14-2007, 09:53 PM
Look out for "round-ness", Stefan.
A bona fide ballista ball would need to roll along the chelonion (or grooved channel). I'm convinced that many so-called ballista balls lacking a circular profile were actually roughly-worked stones for throwing by hand.
Our colleague Dietwulf Baatz is also extremely skeptical of the smaller sizes, pointing out that the effect of shooting a 2-mina stone would hardly repay the effort and expense of building a suitable machine. (The sledgehammer-and-nut syndrome.)
(I'm willing to consider that such small machines were perhaps reserved for particular tasks, such as shooting in cramped conditions.)
A bona fide ballista ball would need to roll along the chelonion (or grooved channel). I'm convinced that many so-called ballista balls lacking a circular profile were actually roughly-worked stones for throwing by hand.
Our colleague Dietwulf Baatz is also extremely skeptical of the smaller sizes, pointing out that the effect of shooting a 2-mina stone would hardly repay the effort and expense of building a suitable machine. (The sledgehammer-and-nut syndrome.)
(I'm willing to consider that such small machines were perhaps reserved for particular tasks, such as shooting in cramped conditions.)
