Battering-Ram

Smith's Bible Dictionary

 Battering-ram.  Ezekiel 4:2;  Ezekiel 21:22. A large beam, with a head of iron, which was, sometime, s 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, compare  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."

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A military engine for battering walls. A long and solid beam, armed at one end with a metallic ram's-head, was suspended by the middle, and swung violently and repeatedly against the walls of a city or castle, till a breach was made. It was sometimes in the lower part of a wooden tower built upon wheels, and was worked by more than a hundred men; while the upper part of the tower was filled with archers and slingers,  Ezekiel 4:2;  21:22 .

Webster's Dictionary

 (1): (n.) A blacksmith's hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally.

 (2): (n.) An engine used in ancient times to beat down the walls of besieged places.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Ezekiel 4:2 21:22

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BATTERING-RAM . See Fortification and Siegecraft.