Onager (weapon)

Onager with a bowl bucket
Sketch of an onager with a sling, a later improvement that increased the length of the throwing arm, from Antique technology by Diels.

The onager (UK: /ˈɒnədʒə/, /ˈɒnəɡə/; US: /ˈɑːnədʒər/)[1] was a Roman torsion-powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. The onager was first mentioned in 353 AD by Ammianus Marcellinus, who described onagers as the same as a scorpion. The onager is often confused with the later mangonel, a "traction trebuchet" that replaced torsion powered siege engines in the 6th century AD.[2][3]

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary.
  2. ^ Fulton 2016, p. 17.
  3. ^ Purton 2009, p. 410.