Roman artillery

thumb|Illustration of a ballista being loaded and drawn

Roman siege engine

Roman artillery piece

REDIRECT Carroballista

The harpax or harpago or harpaga ( lit. "grabber, seizer, robber"; GEN harpagos) was a grappling-iron. Its name, derived from the Greek verb harpazo (ἁρπάζω), meaning "to seize" or "to snatch". It was a versatile tool used in both domestic and military contexts in ancient Greece and Rome.

thumb|upright=1.35|A Roman carroballista from the time of Trajan 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 () type. Vegetius tells us that each carroballista was carried by mules and operated by one contubernium (i.e., eight soldiers commanded by one decanus). Surviving representation of a carroballista are from the bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column (Scene XL and Scenes LXV/LXVI)