The catapults were big and heavy, and they would hurl big rocks at the enemy’s base to knock the base down so they could rush in and attack. When firing a catapult, the Romans could be very safe because the catapult could fire up to a half of a mile. A basic catapult was made mostly of wood and would roll on wheels. Another piece of artillery that the Romans liked to use is a weapon similar to the catapult it was called the fire thrower. A fire thrower would throw a twelve-foot flaming dart. The fire thrower could launch the darts up to two thousand feet, and sometimes even more. Something else the Romans used was a weapon called the lethal crossbow. It is very similar to a bow and arrow. It would fire big darts that look similar to missiles, but they do not explode. On the end of the crossbow the Romans would put a lot of burning rags on the end to try and burn the enemy out or to set fire to something. The lethal crossbow was one of the most rapid firing and accurate weapons back in the ancient Roman times. The Romans used a lot of these weapons in the Punic Wars.