Corvus (weapon)

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Corvus (weapon)

A corvus (meaning "crow" or "raven" in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
) or harpago (probably the correct ancient name ) was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
military boarding device

Boarding (attack)

Boarding, in its simplest sense, refers to the insertion onto a ship's deck of people. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party....
used in naval warfare during the First Punic War

First Punic War

The First Punic War was the first of Punic Wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea....
against Carthage

Carthage

Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian....
.

In Chapters 1.22-4-11 of his History, Polybius

Polybius

Polybius was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories covering in detail the period of 220–146 BC....
describes this device as a bridge 1.2 m (4 ft) wide and 10.9 m (36 ft) long, with a small parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof or architectural structure. It may serve to prevent unwanted falls over the edge or it may be a defensive, constructional or stylistic feature....
on both sides. The engine was probably used in the prow

Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
of the ship, where a system of pulley

Pulley

A pulley is a mechanism composed of a wheel with a Groove between two flanges around the wheel's circumference. A rope, cable or belt usually runs inside the groove....
s and a pole allowed the bridge to be raised and lowered.

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Encyclopedia

A corvus (meaning "crow" or "raven" in Latin

Latin

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
military boarding device

Boarding (attack)

First Punic War

Carthage

Polybius

Parapet

Ship

Pulley

Beak

The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which, in addition to eating, is used for Personal grooming#In animals, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, Courtship#Courtship in the animal kingdom and feeding their young....
on the underside of the device. The spike was designed to pierce the enemy ship's deck when the boarding-bridge was lowered. This allowed a firm grip between the vessels and a route for the legionaries

Legionary

The Ancient Rome legionary was a professional soldier of the Military history of ancient Rome after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizenship under the age of 45....
to cross to the other ship.

In the 3rd century BCE, Rome was not a naval power and had little or no experience in war at sea. Before the first Punic war, the Roman Republic had not campaigned outside the Italian Peninsula. The Republic's military strength was on land, and her greatest assets were the discipline and courage of her soldiers. The boarding-bridge allowed her to use her marines against the superior Carthaginian naval skills. The Romans' application of boarding tactics worked; they won several battles, most notably those of Mylae

Battle of Mylae

The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic....
, Sulci

Battle of Sulci

The Battle of Sulci was a naval battle fought in 258 BC between the Roman and Carthaginian navies on the coast near the town of Sulci. It was a minor Roman victory, obtained by consul Gaius Sulpicius Paterculus....
, Tyndaris

Battle of Tyndaris

The Battle of Tyndaris was a naval battle of the First Punic War, which took place off Tyndaris in 257 BC. Tyndaris was a Sicilian town founded as a Greek colony in 396 BC located on the high ground overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Gulf of Patti....
, and Ecnomus.

Despite its advantages, the boarding bridge had serious drawbacks: it could not be used in rough seas since the stable connection of two working ships endangered each other's structure. Operating in rough seas, the device became useless and was abandoned. According to Bonebaker, Professor of Naval Architecture at Delft, with the estimated weight of one ton for the boarding bridge, it is "most improbable that the stability of a quinquereme

Quinquereme

A quinquereme or penteres is a type of ancient oar-propelled warship that was used by the Greeks of the Hellenistic period and later by the Carthaginians and Ancient Rome, from the 4th century BC to the 1st century....
with a displacement of about 250m³ would be seriously upset".

Some other historians believe that its weight on the prow compromised the ship's navigability and the Romans lost almost two entire fleets to storms in 255 and in 249 BCE, largely due to the instability caused by the device. These losses were probably the main reason for the abandonment of the boarding-bridge in ship design by the end of the war. As Roman naval tactics

Naval tactics in the Age of Galleys

Naval tactics in the age of galleys were used from ancient history to the early 17th century when sailing ships replaced oared galleys....
improved and the Roman crews became more experienced, the boarding-bridge was no longer used in battle. It is not mentioned in period sources after the battle of Ecnomus and apparently the Battle of the Aegates Islands

Battle of the Aegates Islands

The Battle of the Aegates Islands or Aegusa was the final naval battle fought between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic during the First Punic War....
that decided the first Punic war was won without it.

A variant of the boarding bridge, called arpax, was used in the Battle of Naulochus

Battle of Naulochus

The naval Battle of Naulochus was fought on 3 September 36 BC between the fleets of Sextus Pompeius and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, off Naulochus, Sicily....
.

Corvus (weapon)

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