main defensive
line, a palisade,
a wall of wooden stakes, used as a barrier constructed along an earthwork,
together with a tower (1) – (3) and (6)
trenches and
obstacles / anti-cavalry devices
The image details
a series of ditches (5, 7), forked stakes and spikes (4, 8, 10) and hidden pits
(9) designed to impede enemy advances
(1) lōrīca, -ae
[1/f]: [i] (soldier’s armour) coat of mail; cuirass [ii] (here) any form
of defence e.g. parapet; breastwork i.e. a military fortification consisting of
a low wall, often with wooden or wicker defenses
(2) pinnae,
-ārum [1/f/pl]: battlements i.e the raised parts behind which
defenders could shelter
(3)
agger, -is [3/m]: earthwork, especially
defensive ramparts, dykes, dams, causeways, and piers
vallum, -ī [2/n]: wall; rampart; entrenchment
(4) cervus,
-ī [2/m]: [i] deer; stag [ii] (from resemblance to the horns of a
stag) cervī: forked stakes
(5), (7) fossa,
-ae [1/f]: ditch; trench; moat
(6) turris, -is
[3/f]: tower
(8) cippus,
-ī [2/m]: sharpened stake
(9) līlium,
-ī [2/n]: a form of defence, consisting of several rows of pits, in
which stakes were planted, rising only four inches above the surface of the
ground
(10) stimulus, -ī [2/m]: a sharp, barbed hook concealed beneath the surface of the ground, to repel hostile troops
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