School dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities . re joining battle itwas given out and passed through theranks, as a method by which the soldiersmight be able to distinguish friends fromfoes. TESTUDO (), a tortoise, wasthe name given to several other objects. 1. To the Lyra, because it was some-times made of a tortoise-shell. 2. To an arched or vaulted roof. 3. To a military machine moving uponwheels and roofed over, used in besiegingcities, under which the soldiers worked inundermining the walls or otherwise destroy-ing them. It was usually covered with rawhides, or other material
School dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities . re joining battle itwas given out and passed through theranks, as a method by which the soldiersmight be able to distinguish friends fromfoes. TESTUDO (), a tortoise, wasthe name given to several other objects. 1. To the Lyra, because it was some-times made of a tortoise-shell. 2. To an arched or vaulted roof. 3. To a military machine moving uponwheels and roofed over, used in besiegingcities, under which the soldiers worked inundermining the walls or otherwise destroy-ing them. It was usually covered with rawhides, or other materials which could noteasily be set on fire. The battering-ram[Akies] Avas frequently placed under atestudo of this kind, which was then calledTestudo Arietaria, 4. The name of testudo was also appliedto the covering made by a close body ofsoldiers who placed their shields over theirheads to secure themselves against the dartsof the enemy, The shields fitted so closelytogether as to present one unbroken surfacewithout any interstices between them, and. TEsrnuo. R 362 THARGELIA. were also so firm that men could walkupon them, and even horses and chariotsbe driven over them. A testudo was formed(testudinem facere) either in battle to wardoft* the arrows and other missiles of theenemy, or, which was more frequently thecase, to form a protection to the soldierswhen they advanced to the walls or gatesof a town for the purpose of attackingthem. Sometimes the shields were disposed insuch a way as io make the testudo soldiers in the first line stood upright,those in the second stooped a little, andeach line successively was a little lowerthan the preceding down to the last, wherethe soldiers rested on one knee. Such adisposition of the shields was called fas-tigata testudo, on account of their sloping^like the roof of a building. The advan-tages of this plan were obvious : the stonesand missiles thrown upon the shields rolledoff* them like water from a roof; besideswhich, other so
Size: 1326px × 1885px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectclassicaldictionarie
