Use of a portable Byzantine flamethrower for Greek fire from atop a flying bridge against a castle. Illumination from the Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium.
A poliorceticon (Greek: πολιορκητικόν, also transliterated poliorketikon, poliorketika in the plural) is any member of the genre of Byzantine literature dealing with manuals on siege warfare, which is formally known as poliorcetics. As with much Byzantine literature, the poliorcetica tend to be compendia of earlier guides illustrated with Biblical and Classical anecdotes. The extent to which they might be up-to-date or representative of actual experiences in the field is sometimes questionable and greatly depends upon the author.
Composed as they were during the era immediately antecedent to the arrival of heavy artillery, the poliorcetica tend to focus less upon large machines and more upon techniques for bringing men close to fortifications, as well as on ways of undermining these once attacking forces are positioned. These Byzantine manuals also tend to give a good amount of insight on morale and advice on psychological defense employable by those being besieged, either to avoid betrayal or dissension harmful to successful and prolonged defense. They also cover means of avoiding one's own betrayal when invested by a siege.
Two examples of the genre are:
Parangelmata Poliorcetica (Παραγγέλματα πολιορκητικά) of Hero of Byzantium
De obsidione toleranda ("On Withstanding Sieges"), anonymous
Although not technically poliorcetica, other Byzantine military texts such as Kekaumenos's Strategikon and Nikephoros Ouranos's Taktika often include sections or chapters dealing with siege operations. Sources which were composed by soldiers or generals themselves are naturally the most invaluable of these for reconstructing actual procedures in the field.
The English word poliorcetic (relating to the siege of cities) derives from Greek poliorkētikos, from poliorkētēs "taker of cities" (from poliorkein to besiege, from polis city + herkos fence, enclosure).
formally known as poliorcetics. As with much Byzantine literature, the poliorcetica tend to be compendia of earlier guides illustrated with Biblical and...
anonymous Byzantine author of two treatises, commonly known as Parangelmata Poliorcetica and Geodesia, composed in the mid-10th century and found in an 11th-century...
several 10th-century military authors, and their use is depicted in the Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium. The Byzantine dromons usually had a siphōn installed...
Evans, originally posted at Nupedia. Adshead, Katherine: Procopius' Poliorcetica: continuities and discontinuities, in: G. Clarke et al. (eds.): Reading...
match, similar to modern versions, as it was ejected. An illustration in Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium display a soldier with a portable flamethrower....
situation in the later Tactica of Nikephoros Ouranos. The Parangelmata Poliorcetica, a manual on siege warfare, by the so-called Hero of Byzantium, focused...
c. 350 BC. Commentarius Poliorceticus. Aeneas Tacticus. c. 220 BC. Poliorcetica. Philo of Byzantium. A. de Rochas d'Aiglun: Traité de Fortification,...
military technicians for the construction of the first instruments of poliorcetica on that occasion. 436 BC. The city of Fidene was conquered by the Romans...
da Ilha Terceira (in Portuguese), vol. L Vieira, Alberto (1987), "Da poliorcética à fortificação nos Açores: introdução ao estudo do sistema defensivo...
The tenth-century poliorketikon of Hero of Byzantium, Parangelmata Poliorcetica, draws on Athenaeus as a source. Carl(e) Wescher, Poliorcétique des Grecs...
Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal: Imprensa Municipal Vieira, Alberto (1987), "Da poliorcética à fortificação nos Açores: introdução ao estudo do sistema defensivo...
Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal: SREC/DRAC, p. 326 Vieira, Alberto (1987), "Da poliorcética à fortificação nos Açores: introdução ao estudo do sistema defensivo...
Heroísmo (Azores), Portugal: Imprensa Municipal Vieira, Alberto (1987), "Da poliorcética à fortificação nos Açores: introdução ao estudo do sistema defensivo...
Ilha Terceira (in Portuguese), vol. LIV Vieira, Alberto (1987), "Da poliorcética à fortificação nos Açores: introdução ao estudo do sistema defensivo...
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