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Turris

（τύρσις, πύργος). Any lofty building; a tower; a fort or fortified place. The regular tower of fortification was either round or square, several stories in height, with turrets (pinnae) surmounting them, loop-holes (fenestrae) in the walls, and an arched entrance (fornix) in the middle. A movable tower (turris mobilis) was used in sieges to protect the approach of the battering-ram to the walls. (See Aries.) Such a tower was sometimes several stories in height, and could be raised or lowered in order to allow the troops in it to scale the walls (Livy, xxi. 11; Vitruv. x. 13). When elephants were used in battle, they carried a sort of tower on the back filled with soldiers (Livy, xxxvii. 40). For the towers on the decks of ships, see Navis.

Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

hide References (2 total)
  • Cross-references from this page (2):
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 40
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 21, 11
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