<P> Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia describes a battering ram used in mining, where hard rock needed to be broken down to release the ore . The pole possessed a metal tip weighing 150 pounds, so the whole device will have weighed at least twice as much in order to preserve its balance . Whether or not it was supported by being suspended with ropes from a frame remains unknown, but very likely given its total weight . Such devices were used during coal mining in the 19th century in Great Britain before the widespread use of explosives, which were expensive and dangerous to use in practice . </P> <P> Battering rams still have a use in modern times . SWAT teams and other police forces often employ small, one - man or two - man metal rams for forcing open locked portals or effecting a door breaching . Modern battering rams sometimes incorporate a cylinder, along the length of which a piston fires automatically upon striking a hard object, thus enhancing the momentum of the impact significantly . </P> <P> In The Lord of the Rings, an enchanted battering ram named Grond was used to assault the Great Gate of Minas Tirith . It was 150 feet long and capped with an iron wolf's head . </P>

Who had a battering ram for a weapon