Description
Named after the wild ass with a dangerous kick, the onager catapult had a mighty kick all of its own, as its crews quickly discovered. Although not accurate, it could hurl extremely heavy missiles over significant distances. Its throwing arm was pushed through a twisted bundle of animal sinew fixed into a solid wooden frame. Pulled back, the tension in the sinew held an incredible amount of power until the arm snapped forwards and the deadly cargo was launched. At this point, the arm smacked into the frame, and it was this impact from every shot that made the entire machine lurch unpredictably. An area-attack weapon, rather than a deadly-accurate one, the onager was best suited to siege work, but could also be fired against tightly packed units of troops. It could be used to launch a variety of missiles: rocks, clay pots filled with incendiary mixtures or stinging animals such as bees, and even dead bodies to spread disease and despair. Somewhat gruesomely, severed heads were fired into besieged towns from time to time as a warning of what was to come. Easily constructed from timber, the onager became a popular weapon throughout the ancient world.
