The corvus is a device that the Romans invented during the First Punic War. It was a special hook-shaped boarding device that Polybius, in Book III of The Histories, describes as a mobile walkway around 11 metres long and 1.2 metres wide.
Thanks to the sharp hooks placed at the ends, the corvus easily latched on to enemy ships and allowed infantry and soldiers to pass over to enemy boats and fight at sea as though they were on land.
