Vinea

an apparatus used in the ancient Roman army for approaching fortresses under siege.

The vinea was a lightweight structure on rollers, with walls and a roof made of pleated rushes or planks, covered with moistened oxhides or sod in order to protect the besieging troops from injury by firebrands and projectiles. Doors and loopholes were placed in the vinea’s sidewalls. The besiegers used several vineas at the same time, arranging them one behind another and thus forming an enclosed passageway out of them. At the head went the largest vinea, equipped with a sloping shield ahead, the musculus, which was designed for the installation of a battering ram.