Global Information Lookup Global Information

Greek and Roman artillery information


The Greeks and Romans both made extensive use of artillery for shooting large arrows, bolts or spherical stones or metal balls. Occasionally they also used ranged early thermal weapons. There was heavy siege artillery, but more mobile and lighter field artillery was already known and used in pitched battles, especially in Roman imperial period.

The technology was developed quite rapidly, from the earliest gastraphetes in about 399 BC[1] to the most advanced torsion artillery in about 300 BC at the time of Demetrius Polyiorcetes. No improvement, except in details, was ever made upon the catapults of Demetrius.[2] The Romans obtained their knowledge from the Greeks, and employed the Greek specialists.

Five Greek and Roman sources have survived: two treatises by Heron of Alexandria, Belopoeika and Cheiroballistra; and the books by Biton of Pergamon, Philo of Byzantium and Vitruvius[3]

  • Greek non-torsion siege crossbow (gastraphetes)
    Greek non-torsion siege crossbow (gastraphetes)
  • Hellenistic era artillery tower with arrow shooters (euthytona) and stone throwers (palintona)
    Hellenistic era artillery tower with arrow shooters (euthytona) and stone throwers (palintona)
  • Hellenistic era semi-automatic bolt shooter (polybolos)
    Hellenistic era semi-automatic bolt shooter (polybolos)
  • Roman imperial era 1-talent (75-pounder) ballista used in siege warfare
    Roman imperial era 1-talent (75-pounder) ballista used in siege warfare
  • Roman imperial era bolt shooter (scorpio) bastion in defensive warfare
    Roman imperial era bolt shooter (scorpio) bastion in defensive warfare
  • Roman imperial era mobile field artillery (carroballistae)
    Roman imperial era mobile field artillery (carroballistae)
  • Handheld Roman imperial era manuballista or cheiroballistra
    Handheld Roman imperial era manuballista or cheiroballistra
  • Late Roman era stone thrower (onager) used predominantly in sieges
    Late Roman era stone thrower (onager) used predominantly in sieges
  1. ^ [http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/hesperia.80.4.0677.pdf "It is significant that neither Thucydides nor Xenophon mentions catapults. Although their silence cannot prove that no catapults existed, it nevertheless complements the broad picture of the development of bowmachines in the years leading up to 399 BC"
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tarn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Marsden, E.A. (1971). Greek and Roman artillery. Technical treatises. Oxford at the Clarendon press. ISBN 0198142692.

and 27 Related for: Greek and Roman artillery information

Request time (Page generated in 0.8794 seconds.)

Greek and Roman artillery

Last Update:

The Greeks and Romans both made extensive use of artillery for shooting large arrows, bolts or spherical stones or metal balls. Occasionally they also...

Word Count : 1697

Catapult

Last Update:

are more powerful than the more-flexible crossbows and which came to dominate Greek and Roman artillery design thereafter. This move to torsion springs was...

Word Count : 3467

History of crossbows

Last Update:

Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, Oxford University Press Campbell, Duncan (2003), Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BCE-CE 363, Oxford: Osprey...

Word Count : 9763

Gastraphetes

Last Update:

Duncan (1986), "Auxiliary Artillery Revisited", Bonner Jahrbücher, 186: 117–132 Campbell, Duncan (2003), Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC-AD 363, Oxford:...

Word Count : 1039

Ballista

Last Update:

2003, Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC – AD 363, Osprey Connolly, P; 1975, The Roman Army, Macdonald Educational Connolly, P; 1998, Greece and Rome at...

Word Count : 3188

Arbalest

Last Update:

which was then used for crossbows, although originally used for types of artillery. Modern French uses the word arbalète, which is linguistically one step...

Word Count : 324

Crossbow

Last Update:

Greek and Roman Artillery: Historical Development, The Clarendon Press, Oxford 1969, ISBN 978-0198142683, p. 57 Eric William Marsden: Greek and Roman...

Word Count : 7164

Ballistics

Last Update:

Scott, Robert, A Greek-English Lexicon (definition), Perseus, Tufts, κατά πάλλω Marsden, Eric William (1969), Greek and Roman Artillery: Historical Development...

Word Count : 2274

Necromanteion of Acheron

Last Update:

The Nekromanteion (Greek: Νεκρομαντεῖον) was an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and Persephone. According to tradition, it was located...

Word Count : 758

Catapulta

Last Update:

catapult was a Roman machine for throwing arrows and javelins, 12 feet (3.7 m) or 15 feet (4.6 m) long, at the enemy. The name comes from the Greek katapeltes...

Word Count : 256

Lithobolos

Last Update:

A lithobolos (Greek: λιθοβόλος) refers to any mechanical artillery weapon used and/or referred to as a stone thrower in ancient warfare. Typically this...

Word Count : 904

Torsion siege engine

Last Update:

the Romans had begun to permanently mount artillery, whereas previously machines had traveled largely disassembled in carts. Romans made the Greek ballista...

Word Count : 5272

Cheiroballistra

Last Update:

cheiroballistra (Greek: χειροβαλλίστρα) or manuballista (Latin), which translates in all its forms to "hand ballista", was an imperial-era Roman siege engine...

Word Count : 135

Hero of Alexandria

Last Update:

(/ˈhɪəroʊ/; Greek: Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Hērōn hò Alexandreús, also known as Heron of Alexandria /ˈhɛrən/; fl. 60 AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer...

Word Count : 2384

List of siege engines

Last Update:

Yates, M.A., F.R.S. (6 August 2012). "Helepolis - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875". Retrieved 25 May 2017.{{cite...

Word Count : 168

Siege engine

Last Update:

(2003). Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399 BC – AD 363. Osprey Publishing. Liang, Jieming (2006). Chinese Siege Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege...

Word Count : 1638

Hellenistic armies

Last Update:

Marsden (1969), Greek and Roman Artillery: Historical Development, p. 164 Polybius XI.12.4 N.G.L. Hammond (1965), The Opening Campaigns and the Battle of...

Word Count : 7701

Artillery

Last Update:

Artillery are ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability...

Word Count : 16095

Greek fire

Last Update:

Greek fire was an incendiary chemical weapon manufactured in and used by the Eastern Roman Empire from the seventh through the fourteenth centuries. The...

Word Count : 5783

Philistus

Last Update:

avoid retribution from his countrymen. Eric William Marsden: Greek and Roman Artillery: Historical Development, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1969;...

Word Count : 404

Siegecraft in Ancient Greece

Last Update:

(link) Lawrence, A. W. (1979). Greek aims in fortifications. Oxford. Marsden, E. W. (1969). Greek and roman artillery: historical development. Oxford...

Word Count : 5614

List of Roman army unit types

Last Update:

Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. Architecti – An engineer or artillery constructor. Armicustos – A soldier tasked with the administration and supply of...

Word Count : 2065

Greek nationalism

Last Update:

Greek nationalism, otherwise referred to as Hellenic nationalism, refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture. As an ideology, Greek nationalism...

Word Count : 1300

Roman siege engines

Last Update:

prefabricating artillery and siege equipment to facilitate its transportation. Roman artillery was very efficient at that time, and during a siege the Romans would...

Word Count : 2935

Roman Republic

Last Update:

Mediterranean world. Roman society at the time was primarily a cultural mix of Latin and Etruscan societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan, and Greek cultural elements...

Word Count : 20455

Ancient Roman technology

Last Update:

Ancient Roman technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made...

Word Count : 7195

Carroballista

Last Update:

an ancient, cart-mounted ballista, a type of mobile field artillery. According to the Roman author Vegetius (Epitoma rei militaris II.25), each legion...

Word Count : 689
PDF Search Engine © AllGlobal.net