Rolling Archer Things?????

[deilaitha]

Okay. So, after having googled and browsed websites extensively to no avail, I must learn the answer to this burning question:

What are those rolling shields for archers things called? They were commonly used in Roman warfare. I have a delightful book on Roman siege engines, and it even has a picture illustrating the way a siege might take place. There are, in this picture, these shields on wheels with a slot for the archers to shoot through. And guess what--the book does not say what those darned things are!

Does anyone know what they are called???? Or could you recommend a resource that might have that info?

On the plus side, I did learn a lot about other siege engines that I had never heard of. And about twenty different variations of the catapult. And all other kinds of neat stuff.

 

[Malik]

El Camino?

(Rolling Archer Thing)

 

[CupofJoe]

Pavise - is about as near as I can get. There is probably a latin term something like "scutum rota"

 

[Butterfly]

A Mantlet...

google translate has it as a Pluteum / Pluteus (no idea how correct that would be though).

 

[skip.knox]

Google has it right. My Cassel's says "pluteus" (masculine; the neuter form also exists, "pluteum") is a shelter. In Caesar and Livy it appears as meaning a moveable penthouse, shed, or mantlet, made of hurdles covered with hides to protect the besiegers of a town. Clearly not for archers in this case, or at least not specifically for them. The same sources use the same word to mean a breastwork or battlement on a tower.

FWIW, the word also was used in a non-military sense to mean the back of a bed or sofa and, interestingly, the board on which a corpse is laid out.

The Romans were shockingly indifferent to the distinctions that exist in modern English.

@Malik: bonus points! I laughed out loud. (there should be an abbreviation for that)

 

[Malik]

My Cassel's says "pluteus" (masculine; the neuter form also exists, "pluteum") is a shelter. In Caesar and Livy it appears as meaning a moveable penthouse, shed, or mantlet, made of hurdles covered with hides to protect the besiegers of a town.

So a giant mantlet would be a "pluteus maximus." Just sayin'.

I'll just show myself out.

 

[deilaitha]

So a giant mantlet would be a "pluteus maximus." Just sayin'.

I'll just show myself out.

I love you right now.

 

[deilaitha]

Thanks for all your help, everybody!!!