Roman Testudo

VINEA, mantlet: The sides were covered with skins or wisker work when required.

The TESTUDO was similar to the VINEA, but squarer and more stoutly built, with
 a sloping roof and/or a shutter on the side next to the enemy's walls: it
was covered over with hides or other non-inflammable substances.

The MUSCULUS was longer, lower, and narrower than the VINEA, forming  a
covered gallery, pushed up at right angles to the enemy's walls.

Reference:

Caesar, G. P, Goold (ed.), H. J. Edwards (trans.), "The Gallic War," (Loeb Classical Library, LCL 72), p. 631 

Ballista and Ballista Bolts #2

Above is a model of an ancient Ballista and the bolts that it fired.  The two
arms attached to the "Bow String" are powered by skiens of fiber made
up from horse hair and silk.  The skiens are twisted as the bowstring is moved
 back and the trigger releases the bolt.  This model projected a bolt about 35 feet.  

Ballista and Ballista Bolts #1

Second Sicilian War: Siege of Akragos (406 BC)

The Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt

Pharos Information

The Pharors Lighthouse was built in 283 C -- and built to last.  It stood until the fourteenth century.

The Pharos was 360 feet high.

Fire was the light source refleced in a great mittor.

The light could be seen for more than thirty miles.

A central spiral staircase as used to get fuel up to the fire.

Antirrhodos Island

Key

1. Strabo, a geographer, visited Alexandria circa 27 BC and described the island as, "The private property of the kings, which has both royal palace and a small harbor." Maps later mistakenly placed the island further East;

2. Ceremonial Gateway;

3. Red Granite columns over four feet in diameter;

4. Sphinxes found here;

5. Priest's statue found here;

6. Temple to Isis may have been here;

7. Wreck of a Roman Boat;

8. Third Harbor;

9. Red granite colmns found;

10. Limestone pavement found throughout the island;

11.Wooden foundations; These indicate a structure 200 feet long dating from 250 BC.

12. Carbon Dating has fixed the date of construction as circa 450 BC;

13. Possible site of Cleopatra's Palace.

14. GODDIO (French Underater Archaeologist) -- "Using nuclear magnetic resonace, magnetometers and the satelite-based Global Positioning System, Goddio's team mapped the land mass that was submerged under 16 to 20 feet of water, probably by the earth-quake of AD365.  Many artifacts have been located beneath a three foot layer of sediment.  For centuries, scholars speculated on the great treasures of Cleopatra's Palace.  Yet, all the while, clues lay beneath the waters surface in the port. 

Eastern Port of Alexandria -- Ptolemaic and Roman Periods

Key

1. Site of the Pharos Lighthouse;

2. Antirhodos Island;

3. Possible Site, Cleopatra's Palace;

4. Timonium;

5. Ancient Shipwreck*;

6. Royal Harbor?;

7. Third Harbor;

8. Second Harbor;

9. Royal Harbor?;

10. Cape Lochias;

11. Main Passage;

12. Dock?;

13. Dock?;

14. Port;

15. Dock?;

16. Poseidium**;

17. Site of Heptastadion+;

18. Qait Bey Fort++;

19. Colosal Statue@

20. Site of the Island of Pharos;

21. Site of "Cleopatra's Needles";

22. Julius Caesar morred his fleet here;

23. City of Alexandria;

24. Harbor of the Galleys.

*Wreck of a Roman Boat (100 ft. long, and 25 feet wide);

**Possible Site of Mark Antony's Palace;

+Ancient Causeway;

++Built on the site of Lighthouse Ruins;

@May have stood at the foot of the lighthouse.

Orange = Ancient Sunken Lands and Structures;

Stripes = Ancient Reefs.