Mangonel: a type of catapult. It’s name comes from a Greek-Latin word for war machine.

The mangonel was a siege weapon used to launch rocks, dung, bales of hay (set on fire), dead bodies, wooden spikes, and hostages (very few hostages survived) over or at a walled fortress.  Hostages were launched from mangonels to scare the people inside the wall. The dead bodies and dung were launched to spread diseases to the people in the fortress or castle.

Mangonels work by a mechanism called torsion. Torsion is when you take ropes and twist them and stick the throwing arm in … Read the rest

The  ancient Assyrians were one of the first civilizations to use the battering ram, although it’s more commonly known as a medieval weapon.  Battering rams were made to knock down walls and gates; some even had real sheep heads on them.  Others  had spikes on them to pull down wooden gates.  They are still being used today in smaller sizes to knock down doors.