Editing Catapult (section)

== Greek and Roman catapults ==
{{Main article|Greek and Roman artillery}}
[[File:Hero of Alexandria, Belopoiika, Paris, Graec. 2442.jpg|thumb|Illustration of a large catapult from a medieval copy of [[Hero of Alexandria]]'s ''Belopoiika'']]
[[File:047 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XLVII (Ausschnitt 02).jpg|thumb|Roman "catapult-nest" in the [[Trajan's Dacian Wars]]]]
The catapult and [[crossbow]] in Greece are closely intertwined. Primitive catapults were essentially "the product of relatively straightforward attempts to increase the range and penetrating power of missiles by strengthening the bow which propelled them".<ref name= BCH/> The historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] (fl. 1st century BC), described the invention of a mechanical arrow-firing catapult (''katapeltikon'') by a Greek task force in 399&nbsp;BC.<ref name= DiSi1/><ref name= DunC3/> The weapon was soon after employed against [[Sicilian Wars#The Second Sicilian War (410&nbsp;BC–340&nbsp;BC)|Motya]] (397&nbsp;BC), a key [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] stronghold in [[Sicily]].<ref>Diod. Sic. 14.50.4</ref><ref name= DunC8>{{Harvnb |Campbell |2003 |p= 8}}.</ref> Diodorus is assumed to have drawn his description from the highly rated{{Sfn | Marsden | 1969 | pp = 48f}} history of [[Philistus]], a contemporary of the events then. The introduction of crossbows however, can be dated further back: according to the inventor [[Hero of Alexandria]] (fl. 1st century AD), who referred to the now lost works of the 3rd-century BC engineer [[Ctesibius]], this weapon was inspired by an earlier foot-held crossbow, called the ''[[gastraphetes]]'', which could store more energy than the Greek bows. A detailed description of the ''gastraphetes'', or the "belly-bow",<ref name= Cuomo>
{{Citation
 | last = Cuomo
 | first = Serafina
 | jstor = 3836219
 | title = The Sinews of War: Ancient Catapults
| journal = Science
 | year = 2004
 | volume = 303
 | issue = 5659
 | pages = 771–772
 | doi = 10.1126/science.1091066
 | pmid = 14764855
 | s2cid = 140749845
 | url = https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/644/1/Binder1.pdf
 }}.</ref>{{Page needed | date = December 2013}} along with a watercolor drawing, is found in Heron's technical treatise ''Belopoeica''.<ref name= DunC4>
{{Harvnb
 | Campbell
 | 2003
 | p = 4
}}.</ref><ref>
{{Citation
 | first1 = Stanley M
 | last1 = Burstein
 | first2 = Walter
 | last2 = Donlan
 | first3 = Sarah B
 | last3 = Pomeroy
 | author-link = Sarah B. Pomeroy
 | first4 = Jennifer Tolbert
 | last4 = Roberts
 | year = 1999
 | title = Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | isbn = 0-19-509742-4
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/ancientgreecepol00sara/page/366 366]
 | url = https://archive.org/details/ancientgreecepol00sara/page/366
 }}.</ref>

A third Greek author, [[Biton (writer)|Biton]] (fl. 2nd century BC), whose reliability has been positively reevaluated by recent scholarship,<ref name= DunC3/>{{Sfn | Lewis | 1999}} described two advanced forms of the ''gastraphetes'', which he credits to [[Zopyrus of Tarentum|Zopyros]], an engineer from [[Taranto|southern Italy]]. Zopyrus has been plausibly equated with a [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean]] of that name who seems to have flourished in the late 5th century BC.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoreanism/ | first = Peter | last = Kingsley | title = Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic | publisher = Clarendon | place = Oxford | year = 1995 | pages = 150ff}}.</ref>{{Efn | Lewis established a lower date of no later than the mid-4th century.{{Sfn | Lewis | 1999 | p = 160}}  So did de Camp.<ref>{{Citation | first = L Sprague | last = de Camp | title = Master Gunner Apollonios | journal = [[Technology and Culture]] | volume = 2 | number = 3 | year = 1961 | pages = 240–4 (241) | doi=10.2307/3101024| jstor = 3101024 | s2cid = 111523345 }}.</ref>}}  He probably designed his bow-machines on the occasion of the sieges of [[Cumae]] and [[Milet]] between 421&nbsp;BC and 401&nbsp;BC.<ref>Biton 65.1–67.4, 61.12–65.1.</ref><ref name= DunC5>{{Harvnb |Campbell |2003 |p= 5}}.</ref> The bows of these machines already featured a winched pull back system and could apparently throw two missiles at once.<ref name= DunC8/>

[[Philo of Byzantium]] provides probably the most detailed account on the establishment of a theory of belopoietics (''belos'' = "projectile"; ''poietike'' = "(art) of making") circa 200&nbsp;BC. The central principle to this theory was that "all parts of a catapult, including the weight or length of the projectile, were proportional to the size of the torsion springs". This kind of innovation is indicative of the increasing rate at which geometry and physics were being assimilated into military enterprises.<ref name= Cuomo/>{{Page needed | date = December 2013}}

From the mid-4th century BC onwards, evidence of the Greek use of arrow-shooting machines becomes more dense and varied: arrow firing machines (''katapaltai'') are briefly mentioned by [[Aeneas Tacticus]] in his treatise on siegecraft written around 350&nbsp;BC.<ref name= DunC8/> An extant inscription from the [[Athens|Athenian]] arsenal, dated between 338 and 326&nbsp;BC, lists a number of stored catapults with shooting bolts of varying size and springs of sinews.<ref name= Marsden57>{{Harvnb | Marsden | 1969 | p = 57}}.</ref>  The later entry is particularly noteworthy as it constitutes the first clear evidence for the switch to [[torsion (mechanics)|torsion]] catapults, which are more powerful than the more-flexible crossbows and which came to dominate Greek and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] artillery design thereafter.<ref name= DunC8f>{{Harvnb |Campbell |2003 |pp= 8ff}}.</ref> This move to torsion springs was likely spurred by the engineers of Philip II of Macedonia.<ref name= Cuomo/>{{Page needed | date = December 2013}} Another Athenian inventory from 330 to 329&nbsp;BC includes catapult bolts with heads and flights.<ref name = Marsden57/> As the use of catapults became more commonplace, so did the training required to operate them. Many Greek children were instructed in catapult usage, as evidenced by "a 3rd Century B.C. inscription from the island of Ceos in the Cyclades [regulating] catapult shooting competitions for the young".<ref name= Cuomo/> Arrow firing machines in action are reported from [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]]'s siege of [[Perinth]] ([[Thrace]]) in 340&nbsp;BC.<ref name= Marsden60>{{Harvnb | Marsden | 1969 | p = 60}}.</ref>  At the same time, Greek fortifications began to feature high towers with shuttered windows in the top, which could have been used to house anti-personnel arrow shooters, as in [[Aigosthena]].<ref>{{Citation |first= Josiah |last= Ober |title= Early Artillery Towers: Messenia, Boiotia, Attica, Megarid |journal= American Journal of Archaeology |volume= 91 |number= 4 |year= 1987 |pages= 569–604 (569) |doi=10.2307/505291 |jstor= 505291 |s2cid= 191377778}}.</ref> Projectiles included both arrows and (later) stones that were sometimes lit on fire.{{clarify|stones lit on fire?|date=October 2022}} [[Onomarchus]] of Phocis first used catapults on the battlefield against [[Philip II of Macedon]].{{Sfn | Ashley | 1998 | pp = 50, 446}}  Philip's son, [[Alexander the Great]], was the next commander in recorded history to make such use of catapults on the battlefield{{Sfn | Ashley | 1998 | p = 50}} as well as to use them during sieges.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Skelton | first1 = Debra | first2 = Pamela | last2 = Dell | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O8TDQG6jiG4C&pg=PA21 | title = Empire of Alexander the Great | place = New York | publisher = Facts on File | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-8160-5564-7 | access-date = January 31, 2013 | pages = 21, 26, 29 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171223060540/https://books.google.com/books?id=O8TDQG6jiG4C&pg=PA21 | archive-date = December 23, 2017 }}.</ref>

The Romans started to use catapults as arms for their wars against [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], Macedon, Sparta and Aetolia (3rd and 2nd centuries BC). The Roman machine known as an [[arcuballista]] was similar to a large crossbow.<ref>{{Citation | contribution = Arcuballista | place = [[France|FR]] | url = http://dagr.univ-tlse2.fr/sdx/dagr/feuilleter.xsp?tome=1&partie=1&numPage=400&filtre=arbal%C3%A8te%20&nomEntree=ARCUBALLISTA | language = fr | title = Dictionnaire des antiquités grecques et romaines | trans-title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities | publisher = Univ TLSE II | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081005121645/http://dagr.univ-tlse2.fr/sdx/dagr/feuilleter.xsp?tome=1&partie=1&numPage=400&filtre=arbal%C3%A8te%20&nomEntree=ARCUBALLISTA | archive-date = 2008-10-05 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Bachrach | first = Bernard S | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Is2WQyLMKV4C&pg=PA112 | title = Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire | place = Philadelphia | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0-8122-3533-3 | access-date = January 31, 2013 | pages = 110–12 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171223060540/https://books.google.com/books?id=Is2WQyLMKV4C&pg=PA112 | archive-date = December 23, 2017 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Payne-Gallwey | first = Ralph | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xCDK0twV82MC&pg=PA43 | title = The Crossbow: Its Military and Sporting History, Construction and Use | place = New York | publisher = Skyhorse | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-60239-010-2 | access-date = January 31, 2013 | pages = 43–44 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171223060540/https://books.google.com/books?id=xCDK0twV82MC&pg=PA43 | archive-date = December 23, 2017 }}.</ref> Later the Romans used [[ballista]] catapults on their warships.