“Greek and Roman artillery”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Greeks and Romans both made extensive use of artillery for shooting large arrows or rocks.

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 Polyorcetes. 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^[2]

Energy storage

The earliest artillery pieces, like gastraphetes, were driven by large composite bows. According to Marsden's analysis of ancient sources, they were invented in Syracuse in 399 BC, when tyrant Dionysius I gathered there an assembly of expert craftsmen to conduct a research on new armament. Diodorus

^[4] says that these were the first catapults, and describes the impression new weapons made during the siege of Motya by Dionisius.

Torsion siege engine pieces were probably invented in Macedonia, shortly before the times of Alexander III. These were driven by the torsion of a spring made of an appropriate organic material, usually sinew or hair, human or horse. Stone-throwing torsion-powered machines had their first recorded use in 332 BC at the

Although other power systems such as metal springs and pneumatically powered machines were experimented with by Ctesibius - according to Philo - there is no record of their actual use. Metal springs were not sufficiently resilient at that time,^[4] and both the traction and counterweight trebuchet were unknown to the Greeks and Romans.

Nomenclature

The names of the artillery pieces changed with time. Though all inventions in the field

Originally Catapulta (καταπέλτης ὀξυβελής) meant an arrow- or bolt- throwing engine, and a ballista (καταπελτης λιτοβολος or πετροβολος) was a more powerful machine primarily designed for throwing stones. At some time between 100 CE and 300 CE a change occurred in the nomenclature. Thus in the 4th century CE catapulta indicates a one-armed stone-throwing engine, also known as onager, while ballista means a two-armed piece which shoots bolts only.

while palintones usually stone throwing, but sometimes could also shoot arrows or both.

The precise meaning of these terms is disputed.^[6] According to Schramm, Marsden and their followers, this distinction reflects the

difference in the shape of the detail of the frame which is called "hole carrier".^[4] According to the so-called "French school", the arms of a euthytone

extended outside the frame, while the arms of a palintone moved inside the frame.^[7]

The problem arises because the ancient descriptions that we have do not contain original pictures, and the meaning of certain technical terms is unclear.

Dimensions, materials and performance

Much research was done by Hellenistic Greek scientists and craftsmen on the design of artillery

pieces. The main parameter that determines the sizes of all parts of the machine is the

The fundamental size characteristic is called the hole diameter; it is the same as the diameter

of the spring (which is a bunch of sinew rope). Vitruvius gives the following formulas for

the hole diameter: it is the length of the bolt divided by 9 for the bolt-throwing machines, or

the projectile in Attic minas (1 mina = {{convert|436.6|g|oz}}), and the hole diameter is measured in dactyls (1 dactyl = {{convert|19.3|mm|inch}}). Then the dimensions of all parts are defined as fixed multiples of the hole

Hero of Alexandria proposed metal frame and metal cylinders to enclose the springs.

and these washers are the only pieces of Hellenistic artillery, besides the stone balls

Horse hair was considered an inferior substitute. In 250 BC, Rhodes sent to Sinope

for her war with Mitridates about 3/4 of a ton of women's hair. In 225 BC Seleucus

gave Rhodes a present of hair weighting 1000 talents.^[5]^[8] This gift was a part of

A typical ballista could throw a stone weighting 1 talent (60 minae = 26.2 kg) at the distance

of 400 yards. There existed heavy ballistae able to throw stones weighting 3 talents and more.

Much longer ranges were claimed by Athenaeus Mechanicus ...a three-span catapult shot 700 yards (three and half stades); its springs weighted twelve minae. A four-cubit palintone engine shot 800 yards (four stades).^[4]

Athenaeus of Naucratis mentions a catapulte designed by Archimedes which could throw a three talent stone

Polybius (VIII,7,9) writes that catapults used to defend Syracuse during the siege by Marcellus were throwing

Philo of Byzantium writes that the stone walls have to be at least 10 cubits (about 3 meters) thick to be

According to Schramm, the best arrow-throwing catapults could be trusted to hit a man at 100 yards,

Use

The main use of artillery was in the siege of fortified places. The heavy stone-throwing pieces were

used to destroy the walls, while the lighter arrow-shooting pieces to clear the walls from

Sometimes ballistae were used to fire extraordinary projectiles, like pots with snakes, or even parts

of dead bodies, with the purpose of terrifying the enemy. For example, the Romans catapulted to the camp of Hannibal the head of his brother Hasdrubal.

Several attempts to use artillery in the field are recorded but they were mostly unsuccessful,

except when the artillery could be deployed in some protected place. For example, in the

Battle of Jaxartes Alexander used catapults to clear the further bank of the river.

The artillery pieces were transported in disassembled state, and it took long time to

assemble, install and adjust them. In many cases only few essential parts of artillery pieces were

transported, the rest could be made on the place of a siege if timber was available.

Testing modern replicas

Many attempts were made in modern times to reproduce the ancient artillery pieces, following

their ancient descriptions, and to test them. The first success was due to German general E. Schramm

in collaboration with A. Rehm.^[10] They used horse hair for the springs, and achieved the distance of over 300 m with 1 pound lead shot, and using another machine, 370 meters with 1 meter bolt. This bolt penetrated an iron-plated shield 3 cm thick to half of the bolts length.

See also

References

1. ^"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 bowmachinesin the years leading up to 399 BC"], Duncan B. Campbell, "ANCIENT CATAPULTS: Some Hypotheses Reexamined"
2. ^{{cite book | first=E.A.|last=Marsden|title=Greek and Roman artillery. Technical treatises|publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon press|year=1971|ISBN=0198142692}}
3. ^¹{{cite book|last=Diodorus Siculus|title=Historical library}}
4. ^¹²³⁴{{cite book|first=E.A.|last=Marsden|title=Greek and Roman Artillery. Historical development| year=1969 | publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press}}
5. ^¹²³⁴{{cite book|first=W.|last=Tarn|title=Hellenistic naval and military developments|publisher=Ares Publ.|place=Chicago|year=1975}}
6. ^{{cite news|first=Duncan|last=Campbell|title=Ancient catapults: some hypotheses reexamined|journal=Hesperia|volume=80|year=2011|pages=677–700}}
7. ^{{cite web|author=Heron d'Alexandrie|title=La Chiroballiste (French translation by V. Prou)|url= http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/heronalexandrie/chirobaliste.htm#_ftnref42}}
8. ^{{cite book|first=J.S.|last=Morrison|title=Greek and Roman oared warships|year=1996|publisher=Oxbow books|place=Oxford|page=355}}
9. ^{{cite web|author=Athenaeus|title=The deipnosophists|page=V.43|url= http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus5b.html}}
10. ^{{cite book|first=E.|last=Schramm|title=Die antiken Geschutze der Saalburg|place=Berlin|year=1918}}
11. ^{{cite web|title=Catapulta and onager|url=http://www.legionxxiv.org/catapulta}}
12. ^"A Modern Reconstruction of Vitruvius' Scorpion"