A lithobolos ( el, λιθοβόλος) refers to any mechanical artillery weapon used and/or referred to as a stone thrower in

ancient warfare Ancient warfare is war that was conducted from the beginning of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. The difference between prehistoric and ancient warfare is more organization oriented than technology oriented. The development of ...

. Typically this referred to engines that propel a stone along a flat track with two rigid bow arms powered by torsion (twisted cord), in particular all sizes of palintonon. However, Charon of Magnesia referred to his flexion (bow) stone-thrower engine, a

gastraphetes The gastraphetes ( grc, γαστραφέτης, , belly-releaser), also called belly bow or belly shooter, was a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century AD by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his ...

shooting 5–6 mina (), as a lithobolos; Isidoros of Abydos reportedly built a larger version shooting . Also, the euthytonon, a single-arm torsion catapult, was referred to by contemporaries as a stone-thrower, as was its Roman evolution the

onager The onager (; ''Equus hemionus'' ), A new species called the kiang (''E. kiang''), a Tibetan relative, was previously considered to be a subspecies of the onager as ''E. hemionus kiang'', but recent molecular studies indicate it to be a distinct ...

. Stone-throwers of the same class looked alike, with their stone capacity scaling mostly with overall size. Machine dimensions can be approximated mathematically based on the equivalent spring diameter.

History

Buddhist texts record

Magadhan The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern Indian subcontinent (East India and Assam, Bangladesh), including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongs ...

Emperor

Ajatashatru Ajatasattu (Pāli ) or Ajatashatru (Sanskrit ) in Buddhist tradition, or Kunika () and Kuniya () in the Jain histories, (c. 492 to 460 BCE or early 5th century BCE) was one of the most important kings of the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha in East ...

as having commissioned stone-throwers (''mahashilakantaka'') in his campaign against the Licchavis in the 5th century BCE. The first recorded European stone-thrower machines were used by the armies of

Philip of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the a ...

and

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. Polydias, Charias, and Diades of Pella, are the three engineers recorded designing machines for these armies, with Diades engineering at the sieges of Halicarnassus (334 BC) and Gaza (332 BC). According to the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

engineer

Philo of Byzantium Philo of Byzantium ( el, , ''Phílōn ho Byzántios'', ca. 280 BC – ca. 220 BC), also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer, physicist and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC. Although he was f ...

, the common ''effective'' range against fortifications was with a load of ; at that distance, walls had to be thick to withstand the impact. Anti-personnel stonethrowers hurled much smaller balls, though arrow-shooters like the scorpio were preferred for these purposes. Super-heavy stonethrowers such as those fielded by Demetrius "Poliorcetes" at the

Siege of Rhodes (305 BC) Siege of Rhodes may refer to one of the following sieges of the island of Rhodes: * Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC), by Demetrius I of Macedon * Siege of Rhodes (88 BC), siege by Mithridates VI of Pontus in the First Mithridatic War * Hospitaller c ...

threw stones of up to and could be brought close to the walls in siege-towers. Balls of such size were found in small numbers in the arsenals of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

and

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a ...

, corroborating ancient reports of their use. The Roman artillery engineer

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...

provided measurements for even more powerful stone-throwers, but it is not known whether these were ever used in combat. Modern experiments show that smaller projectiles could be hurled at least , while ancient authors record maximum ranges of as much as . Siege engines of all types have been recorded as mounted on ships, with perhaps their first successful use at the Battle of Salamis (306 BCE) under the command of Demetrius "The Besieger". The enormous transport ''

Syracusia ''Syracusia'' ( el, Συρακουσία, ''syrakousía'', literally "of Syracuse") was an ancient Greek ship sometimes claimed to be the largest transport ship of antiquity. She was reportedly too big for any port in Sicily, and thus only saile ...

'' possibly had the largest ship-mounted catapult of the ancient world, an machine that could fire arrows or stones up to . During the

Siege of Syracuse (214–212 BCE) Siege of Syracuse may refer to: Sieges By the Athenians: * Siege of Syracuse (415–413 BC), during the Sicilian Expedition By, or in league with, the Carthaginians: * Siege of Syracuse (397 BC) * Siege of Syracuse (343 BC) * Siege of Syracuse ...

, the Greek defenders used a barrage of machines developed by

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

, including powerful stone-throwing ballistas. Archimedes had the record for the largest stone launched in the ancient world, from a ship-mounted engine, reported at 3 talents (). Other Greco-Roman engineers and recorders of stone-throwers include Zopyrus of Tarentum, Charon of Magnesia,

Biton Biton (Hebrew: ביטון) is a Maghrebi Jewish surname which is common in Israel. It may refer to: * Avraham Biton (1923-2005), Israeli politician * Charlie Biton (born 1947), former Israeli politician * Dan Biton (born 1961), general in the I ...

Ctesibius of Alexandria Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius ( grc-gre, Κτησίβιος; fl. 285–222 BC) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (a ...

Dionysius of Alexandria Dionysius the Great ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξανδρείας) was the 14th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria from 28 December 248 until his death on 22 March 264. Most information known about him comes from his large surviving correspo ...

, and

Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greece, Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egy ...

Variants

The Roman

, a catapult powered by rope torsion, was sometimes referred to as a stone-thrower. Archimedes reportedly designed a steam-powered gun to shoot spherical projectiles using the same principle of gas pressure as a gunpowder cannon.

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

drew a design for a steam gun that he named "Architronito", citing Archimedes.

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

first observed the phenomenon of

aerodynamic heating Aerodynamic heating is the heating of a solid body produced by its high-speed passage through air. In science and engineering, an understanding of aerodynamic heating is necessary for predicting the behaviour of meteoroids which enter the earth's ...

in the slight melting of the face of lead bullets thrown from ancient catapults and ballistas, using this to make some correct deductions of the physics of gases and temperature.Lanahas cites:

References

External links

* Source cited for blueprints. Source for images: * More photos and details at
Legion XXIV made Palintonon reconstruction
* Digital reproduction ad with diagrams:
Palintonon image
{{Ancient mechanical artillery and hand-held missile weapons Ancient Greek artillery

History

Variants

See also

References

External links