siege engines
Medieval assault machines
Siege engines are large military machines designed to attack fortifications—battering rams to break gates, catapults and trebuchets to hurl projectiles over walls, siege towers to scale defenses.
The term belongs primarily to ancient and medieval warfare, before artillery made such devices obsolete.
In fantasy games and fiction, siege engines remain fixtures of castle assaults.
- trebuchetCounterweight-powered projectile launcher
- catapultSiege engine for launching
- ballistaAncient projectile siege engine
- mangonelTorsion-powered medieval catapult
- mantletMobile defensive barrier
bombard · siegecraft · counterweight · torsion · onager · scorpion · hoarding · battering ram · war machines · war machine · scaling ladders · pulley system · artillery · walls · crusade · castle · medieval · medieval warfare
- medieval warfareknights, castle, castle defense, army, castles
- ancient weaponssword, swords, shield, shields, bow
- Pre-electric technologywaterwheel, water wheel, windlass, pulley, plow
- ancient armiesphalanx, legion, hoplites, heavy infantry, light infantry
- ancient warfarephalanx, warriors, army, legion, battle
- Roman siegesMarcellus, Archimedes, city walls, Sicily, death ray
siege enginesfortifications
Defensive barriers against attack
defensive walls · ramparts · battlements · bastions · citadels
siege enginesblockade
Sealing off a place
diplomatic resolution · infiltration · subterfuge · bribery · treachery
engineer, siege, engineering, besiege, engines, engineers, engineered, besieged, sieges