Bible Dictionary
Batteringram
A batteringram was a large suspended beam driven against a fortified wall to make a breach. Besiegers commonly brought such engines up an earthen ramp or siege mound.
Definition
A batteringram was a large beam, sometimes fitted with an iron head or shaped like a ram’s head, suspended by ropes between supporting posts. Men swung it repeatedly against a fortified wall to make a breach.
Biblical Usage
Ezekiel’s descriptions associate battering-rams with the siege of a city and with the construction of a mount or earthen bank against its walls.
Historical Background
Besiegers could bring the engine to the wall by forming an inclined plane or mound of earth. Some rams were mounted in movable towers, while others were constructed on the spot and lacked wheels.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Ezekiel 4:2; 21:22) a large beam with a head of iron which was sometimes made to resemble the head of a ram. It was suspended by ropes to a beam supported by posts, and balanced so as to swing backward and forward, and was impelled by men against the wall. In attacking the walls of a fort or city, the first step appears to have been to form an inclined plane or bank of earth, comp. (Ezekiel 4:2) “cast a mount against it,” by which the besiegers could bring their battering-rams and other engines to the foot of the walls. “The battering-rams,” says Mr. Layard “were of several kinds. Some were joined to movable towers which held warriors and armed men. The whole then formed one great temporary building, the top of which is represented in sculptures as on a level with the walls, and even turrets, of the besieged city. In some bas-reliefs the battering-ram is without wheels: it was then perhaps constructed upon the spot and was not intended to be moved.”