Battering ram was a heavy wooden beam that served as a war machine from ancient times through the Middle Ages. Soldiers used battering rams to knock down the walls and open the gates of fortified towns and castles. The forward end of the ram had a metal covering that, in some cases, was shaped like a ram’s head.
The earliest battering rams were carried by men who ran at the target. The force of these rams was limited by the speed of the men and the weight of the beam they could carry. At times, rams were suspended on ropes or chains from the top of a mobile tower. Soldiers swung the suspended beam back and forth to increase the force with which it butted the target. Very large rams were mounted on wheels and pushed forward.
Battering rams were used in Mesopotamia by the 1700’s B.C. The ancient Assyrians, Romans, and Greeks used them in sieges, as did the crusaders of the Middle Ages. In time, landowners built castles atop hills or surrounded by wide moats for defense against battering rams. Cannons eventually replaced the battering ram.
