Against the Corvus

Abstract

This article focuses is on the venerable Corvus, a boarding–bridge that, according to Polybios, enabled the Romans to win the Battle of Mylae. This paper aims to show that the Corvus was, in fact, a piece of fiction invented by Polybios, that key technical difficulties would have prevented its usage as described by Polybios and that the device is in fact not necessary to explain the Roman victory of Mylae. The Corvus—or “Korax” as it is called in Greek—is described by Polybios in the first book of his histories (1.22). It consists of a long pole, projecting 24 feet (about7.5 metres) from the Deck of the prow of a ship.To this a sort of bridge or ladder was attached. The bridge was four roman feet wide and thirty–six feet long (about 11 m.), twenty–four feet (about 7.5 m) of which were fully usable as a passageway. The other twelve feet were slit in an oblong fashion to accommodate the holding–pole. On the opposing end, a pestel–like, curved iron spike was mounted to pierce the deck of an enemy vessel, allowing roman marines to board it.