Greek and Roman Artillery from 399 BC to AD 363: New Vanguard

The catapult (katapeltikon) was invented below the patronage of Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, within the 4th century bc. At first solely the arrow-firing variant was used, and it was not till the reign of Alexander the Nice that stone-projecting catapults had been launched. The Romans adopted these weapons in the course of the Punic Wars and additional developed them, earlier than introducing the brand new arrow-firing ballista and stone-throwing onager. This title traces the customarily controversial design, growth and development of those weapons all through the historical past of the classical world.