Soldiers wearing armor engaged in sword combat wielding a spiked shield.

A siege engine in the form of a portable shelter behind which soldiers could take cover and advance in the face of projectiles. This form is equipped with spikes to deter head-on attack from opposing forces.

The sling stave is a staff with a sling at the end, used for hurling smaller projectiles. In Latin it is called a fustibalus. One cord of the sling is attached to the staff or "stave" and the other end has a loop that…

Soldier holding a sling used for hurling projectiles and an enlarged view of the sling itself.

Soldiers ride in a wheeled siege vehicle with windows for firing weapons.

A fortified tower filled with soldiers is raised using a telescoping leg system driven by a pulley.

The siege hook, or falx, was a siege engine dating back to Roman times. Similar to a battering ram, the siege hook was tipped with a pry bar, and the ram had handles for twisting and either splintering wooden doors or…

This image depicts a horseshoe with nails, a farrier shoeing a horse, and a farrier's rasp.

Artist's depiction of Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, commonly referred to as Vegetius, a writer from the Later Roman Empire (circa 4th century) who wrote extensively on military matters.

A mobile wooden siege wall concealing a soldier firing a mortar.

A siege engine in the form of a portable shelter behind which soldiers could take cover and advance in the face of projectiles. This one appears to be equipped with a perforated grate in the middle through which the…

The mangonel was a type of catapult used generally for hurling stones at a besieged castle's walls. As Vegetius writes, "But the mangonel shoots stones, and throws various weights in proportion to the thickness of the…

The image shows a soldier climbing a siege ladder alongside a schematic of a different ladder in three parts that can be screwed together.

A soldier ascends a drawbridge supported by ropes hanging from supporting beams.

A battering ram with an iron tip in the shape of a ram's head.

A device for raising water, the Archimedean screw consists of an external cylinder surrounding a screw. The bottom of the cylinder and screw must be immersed in water, which is not correctly depicted here. If the…

Handwritten manuscript containing notes for making aqua fortis, (or nitric acid), and refining silver. Includes a basic sketch of the apparatus used in the procedure. Written by John Conduitt (1688-1737), Sir Isaac…

Manuscript owned by Issac Newton (1642-1727). Written in an unknown hand, the work consists of notes on a vivisection experiment conducted by Lorenzo Bellini (1643-1704), an Italian physician and anatomist. The…