00:00Why was a Roman naval weapon named after a raven?
00:03In the First Punic War, Rome faced Carthage's superior navy with no answer at sea.
00:08Their solution, a pivoting bridge mounted on the ship's prow with a heavy iron spike shaped like a bird's beak
00:14on its underside.
00:15When dropped onto an enemy deck, the spike locked the vessels together.
00:19This allowed Roman soldiers to cross and use their land-based strength in naval combat.
00:24It was called the corvus, Latin for raven, because that iron beak struck exactly like a raven swooping attack.
