# Rolling Archer Things?????



## deilaitha (Jul 11, 2013)

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 (Jul 11, 2013)

El Camino?








(Rolling Archer Thing)


----------



## CupofJoe (Jul 12, 2013)

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


----------



## Butterfly (Jul 12, 2013)

A Mantlet...

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


----------



## skip.knox (Jul 12, 2013)

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 (Jul 12, 2013)

skip.knox said:


> 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 (Jul 12, 2013)

Malik said:


> So a giant mantlet would be a "pluteus maximus." Just sayin'.
> 
> I'll just show myself out.



I love you right now.


----------



## deilaitha (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks for all your help, everybody!!!


----------

