Batoum

or Batum, a Ru ian port on the B. coast of the Black Sea, Battering Ram, an ancient miliary contrivance used for battering down walls. It existed among the A yrians, the Greeks, and the Romans. It consisted of a pole or beam of wood, sometimes as much as 80, 100, or even 120 feet in length. It was suspended by its extremities from a single point, or from two points in another beam above, which lay horizontally acro two ree oil Ane A IRM! ae a: Mies < a ——— %, (ae ——— eg, BATTERING RAM. posts. When at rest it was level, like the beam above it. When put in action against a wall, it was swung horizoutally by men who succeeded each other in constant relays, the blow which it gave to the masonry at each Se vibration being rendered all the more effective that one end of it was armed with iron.