Corvus (boarding bridge)
Corvus (pasarela de abordaje)
- Date
- 260 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Mylae (modern Milazzo), Sicily, Italy
- Credited to
- Roman navy
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
A hinged gangway with a spike that dropped onto the enemy deck so that boarding parties could cross, turning a naval battle into an infantry fight. It let Rome, with no naval tradition, defeat the Carthaginians at Mylae.
Known only from Polybius; its exact design is a modern reconstruction.
What it led to
- the Roman victory at Mylae (260 BC) and Rome's first maritime conquests
- later abandonment of the corvus because of its effect on stability
- boarding tactics in ancient naval warfare