In the ancient world developments in weapons technology were few and far between.

The legionary was supported by lighter-armed foot troops, usually archers, stingers and javelin throwers.

Similarly, cavalrymen would be armed with javelins and swords.

Only the semi-nomadic Parthians who dominated the area of modern-day Iraq used mounted bowmen to any significant degree.

Seven hundred years earlier the Assyrian armies conquered much of the Middle East using similar javelins and swords and firing similar bows.

But what was relatively new was the widespread use of war engines — giant catapults made of wood that could hurl large stones or arrows.

The prototype catapults were invented by the Greeks around 350 BC and later adapted and improved by the Romans.

The machines fired their missiles using springs made from twisted strips of animal sinew.

They were primarily used during sieges to batter walls or shower defenders with missiles.

The Romans occasionally mounted them on horse-drawn carts so they could be more easily moved around and therefore used in open battle.

By the late 1st Century BC each Roman legion probably included its own catapult unit.

The Romans called the stone-throwing machine a ballista.

The arrow-firing machine was called a scorpion. During the Christian era the Romans developed a larger stone-throwing machine known as the Onager, or Wild Ass.

British coins

The earliest British coins, found in Kent, date to some time before 100 BC. They are not thought to have been minted here, but instead brought in from Gaul, possibly as payment in a trade agreement.

On one side they show a man with a beard, on the other a horse and chariot. By about 80 BC many of the tribes in southern Britain had begun producing their own coins — copying closely the styles used by their Celtic relatives on the continent.

At first they were a mix of bronze and tin but gold and silver ones soon followed. These usually featured human heads, stalks of wheat, horses or chariots.