Vespasiano e l’assedio di Iotapata. Un esempio di poliorcetica nella Guerra Giudaica (Bellum Iudaicum III, 5-7)

The use and deploy of Roman military artillery has never been of primary importance, or at least this is the impression regarding the main Roman historians’ accounts. Neverthe- less, many useful information can be found in slight traces within the extant texts: during the siege of Iotapata, Josephus gives his personal point of view, but how trustworthy can it be? The aim of this article is to portrait the biggest weaknesses and the trustful points of Josephus’ account in that precise episode, therefore leading to some thoughtful consider- ations about the roman artillery topic.