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Main information about ancient artillery comes from the five surviving Greek and Roman sources: two treatises by Heron of Alexandria, Belopoeika and Cheiroballistra, and from the books by Biton of Pergamon, Philo of Byzantium and Vitruvius Ancient artillery consisted of elasticity-driven devices for shooting projectiles (arrows, bolts, stones etc.) which evolved from the composite bow. The earliest artillery pieces, like gastraphetes, were driven by a composite bow. 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. XVI.41.1-3. . Diodorus says that these were the first catapults, and describes the impression new weapons made during the siege of Motya by Dionisius. These catapults were arrow shooting and it is conjectured that they were powered by a composite bow. More powerful pieces were driven by torsion of a spring made of an appropriate organic material, usually sinew or hair, human or horse. Torsion-powered pieces were probably invented in Macedonia, shortly before the times of Alexander III. According to Philo, Ctesibius experimented with metal springs and pneumatically powered machines, but there is no record of their actual use,〔 because metal springs were not sufficiently resilient at that time. In the Middle Age, metal springs were successively used in crossbows. The stone-throwing machines were torsion-powered, and their first recorded use is in the siege of Tyre by Alexander. Torsion artillery reached its highest development in the Hellenistic period, probably at the time of Demetrius Polyorcetes. No improvement, except in details, was ever made upon the catapults of Demetrius.〔 The Romans obtained their knowledge from the Greeks, and employed the Greek specialists. Torsion artillery was used until after the spread of gunpowder. ==Nomenclature== The names of the artillery pieces changed with time. Though all inventions in the field of artillery were made by the Greeks, the best known are the Latin names, ballista and catapulta. ''Catapulta'' (καταπέλτης ὀξυβελής) originally meant an arrow- or bolt- throwing engine. A ''ballista'' (καταπελτης λιτοβολος or πετροβολος) was a more powerful machine primarily designed for throwing stones. 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. Artillery was also used as flame carriers. During the last night of Demetrius attack on Rhodes the Rhodians fired 800 cylinders with some incendiary substance; the cylinders being subsequently collected and counted; they managed to set fire on Demetrius' armored tower. 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. The authors of Greek treatises classified artillery pieces into two categories: ''euthytones'' and ''palintones''. Hero writes that eutitones were arrow-throwing, while palintones usually stone throwing, but sometimes could also shoot arrows or both. The precise meaning of these terms is disputed. According to Schramm, Marden and their followers, this distinction reflects the difference in the shape of the detail of the frame which is called "hole carrier".〔 According to the so-called "French school", the arms of a eurhytone extended outside the frame, while the arms of a palintone moved inside the frame.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=La Chiroballiste (French translation by V. Prou) )〕 The problem arises because the ancient descriptions that we have do not contain original pictures, and the meaning of certain technical terms is unclear. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greek and Roman artillery」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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