Carroballista
Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the Roman author Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris II.25), each legion had 55 carroballistae (one per centuria) which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the cheiroballistra (Greek: χειροβαλλίστρα) type. Vegetius says that each carroballista was carried by mules and operated by one contubernium (i.e, eight soldiers commanded by one decanus).
Carroballista

Dayot, Armand. Le moyen âge: la Gaule romaine, les invasions, la France féodale, la royauté. (Paris Flammarion 1911) · http: imageID=1624249 · Public domain
- Field
- torsion siege engine.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Carroballista was an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the Roman author Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris II.25), each legion had 55 carroballistae (one per centuria) which were arrow/bolt-shooter of the cheiroballistra (Greek: χειροβαλλίστρα) type. Vegetius says that each carroballista was carried by mules and operated by one contubernium (i.e, eight soldiers commanded by one decanus).
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Carroballista. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
original value insufficient · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q3207150 · wikipedia · Carroballista
In this article
Structure
Structure
Surviving representation of a carroballista are from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column (Scene XL and Scenes LXV/LXVI) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
The structure of the carroballista machine is identical to that of the cheiroballistra or manuballista, which translates in all its forms to "hand ballista", was an imperial-era Roman siege engine. Designed by Hero of Alexandria and mostly composed of metal (the spring mechanism and the skeins), it shot bolts that were smaller than those in other forms of ballistae and generally made of metal. It was the next major improvement after the scorpio. The name of the weapon is composed of the Greek words for 'hand' and 'shooter' implying that portable versions might also have existed, similar to crossbows. It seems that the technical innovations introduced by the adoption of the cheiroballistra by the Roman army at the end of the 1st century AD made the use of the cart possible. In fact, the light but stout metal spring-frame and the wider space in the frontal part of the machine given by the arched strut conferred a greater manoeuvrability to the whole ballista.
Shooting position
Shooting position
According to the Trajan's column representation (Scene XL), the carroballista was manoeuvred by one man mounted on the cart with the ballista and by another man positioned behind the cart and operating probably some sort of winch handle. The presence of the mules in front of the cart suggests that the carroballista could be easily moved through the battlefield whilst shooting bolts. This interpretation is not unanimously accepted by scholars. It is not certain that the ballistae are actually shooting. The whole representation could be simply an image of carts transporting ballistae to their destination nest on the battlefield. But the bolts or arrows are here depicted in a ready-to-fire position, hazardous for artillerymen if the ballistae are simply being transported in order to be dismounted and deployed on the battlefield. In another section of the Trajan's column (Scene LXVI) the simple transportation of the ballista is depicted. An artilleryman is pulling the cart near the wheel and this suggests that the whole machine must have been quite a heavy structure.
Structure of the cart
Structure of the cart
It is sure that the cart was pulled by two mules or horses and that the size was probably that of standard Roman carts, i.e. c. 5 Roman feet (c. 147 cm) width (as depicted in the Trajan's Column, Scene XL and Scene LXVI), but the whole design of the cart is uncertain. There are many hypotheses about the structure of the cart and probably different models of the same machine seem to have been in use at the same time: a simple two-wheel cart used to transport the ballista to its final emplacement on the field; a special two-wheel cart [i.e. carroballista] with a ballista mounted on the cart and with the frontal part positioned towards the mules; a special ballista simply mounted on two wheels and without cart (Trajan's Column Scene LXVI) and probably transported with the frontal part positioned rear, like Modern Era cannons, or forward and with a Transport-hook or Transport-hooks at the frontal position (see again Trajan's Column, Scene LXVI). a special four-wheel cart with a mounted ballista, as described in the book De Rebus Bellicis. Many scholars do not have an opinion about this problem, due to scarce evidence, as clearly stated by Alan Wilkins.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Carroballista”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3207150: Carroballista
Unverified · Wikidata
General and cited references
General and cited references
Duncan B. Campbell and Brian Delf, Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC–AD 363, New Vanguard series 89, Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford 2003. ISBN 1 84176 634 8 J. P. Oleson, The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World, Oxford 2006, page 699. W. Soedel and V. Foley, The Greek and Roman Ballistae, Scientific American, March 1979 [pp. 150 – 160] A. Wilkins, Roman Artillery, Princes Risborough 2003, pages 39–50. Wilkins, teacher of Classics at the University of Cambridge, produced for the first time real scale operating ballistae, among which the famous stone-thrower for the BBC and a cheiroballistra.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Warry, Warfare in the Classical World (1995), p. 178.
- 2.About this hypothesis and a proposal of reconstruction of a carroballista of this type, see W. Soedel and V. Foley, Scientific American, March 1979, pp. 150–160.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
Connections
Knowledge graph
Connections
Each connection was recorded deliberately, with the basis for it kept on the internal record.
Broader subject
1- torsion siege engineTerminology
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Carl Gustaf m/45Terminology
- Carle RifleTerminology
- CarloTerminology
- Carolingian swordTerminology
- carronadeTerminology
- cartridgeTerminology
- caseless ammunitionTerminology
- cast bulletTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Carroballista?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.