VI´NEA
VI´NEA According to the description of
vineae given by A. Muller in Baumeister's
Denkmädler, i. pp. 540-1, they differed from the
testudines very slightly, viz. in not being
so large and in having the sides open (Veg. 4.15). They appear to have been
used behind engines of assault to protect the men working those engines.
They were called
στοΐδια in Greek (Athen.
de Mech. p. 31, Wescher), and Müller thinks that
they were small testudines with open fronts and sides covered with skins or
wickerwork. Vegetius mentions (
l.c.) one as 16 feet
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Vinea.
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long, 7 broad, and 8 high. Owing to their smallness, many were put
behind one another. They were especially liable to be set on fire by the
enemy (
Liv. 2.17,
2;
5.7,
3,
&c.). We give a cut from Marquardt (
Staatsverw.
ii.2 530), also adopted by Schiller in Iwan
Müller's
Handbuch, iv. p. 740.
The
ἄμπελοι described by Apollodorus (p.
141, Wescher) and Rüstow and Köchly (
Griech.
Kriejswesen, p. 313) are probably the
plutei of the Romans [
PLUTEUS]; though Droysen (
Griech. Kspiegsalt. p.
228) says that they are the same as the
vineae;
and certainly the similarity of the name lends some probability to this
view.
[
L.C.P]