Tastes Of HistoryMar 299 minDispelling Some Myths: 'ancient Roman trebuchets'?A recent search of the internet for information on Roman artillery machines returned, amongst other results, a website with a page...
Tastes Of HistoryAug 6, 20214 minHow to: Build a replica Cannon Part FiveThe Gunners' Equipment In Part One, where we established the background to building our replica cannon. In describing the firing drills...
Tastes Of HistoryApr 7, 20215 minWhistling DeathBurnswark Hill Approaching across the gentle surrounding Dumfriesshire countryside it is hard to miss the brooding eminence of Burnswark...
Tastes Of HistoryJan 19, 20218 minHow to: Build a replica Cannon Part FourProjectiles In Parts One to Three of this "How to:" series we established the background to and how we went about building our scale...
Tastes Of HistoryNov 25, 20205 minHow to: Build a replica Cannon Part ThreeThe Gun Carriage In Part Two we looked at seven steps to building a barrel for a replica naval gun that was both lightweight and portable....
Tastes Of HistoryOct 5, 20204 minHow to: Build a replica Cannon Part TwoThe Gun Barrel The core element, the cannon's barrel, is so named because the earliest guns were constructed with iron staves bound...
Tastes Of HistorySep 27, 20206 minHow to: Build a replica Cannon Part OneThe Background History Part One of this series begins with a very brief look at the history of a typical naval gun in use with the Royal...
Tastes Of HistoryJul 30, 20205 minThe Chinese Xuan Feng or "Whirlwind"Until the advent of gunpowder, the trebuchet (French: trébuchet) was a common powerful siege engine that used a long arm to throw a...
Tastes Of HistoryJun 20, 20207 minTravels with my Freed Bear: KourionWhen schools in the UK take their half-term break in February, we have been lucky, for the last few years, to visit Cyprus. Although a...
Tastes Of HistoryJun 19, 20207 minDionysios' PolybolosThe design of Dionysios of Alexandria’s 'Polybolos' is somewhat unique in the annals of ancient artillery. The very name 'Polybolos' or...
Tastes Of HistoryJun 17, 20204 minArcuballista: A Late Roman CrossbowThe sole mention of the arcuballista occurs in the work of Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris)[1]. In book II.15, when describing how the...
Tastes Of HistoryJun 17, 20205 minBallistas, Catapults and ScorpionsA major source of information for Roman artillery is Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a 1st century BC Roman author, architect, civil and...
Tastes Of HistoryJun 16, 20203 minReady, Aim...Shoot!Many years ago, long before I joined The Roman Military Research Society (or RMRS), a teacher inspired his pupils to build a catapulta,...