Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC–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.