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A catapulta was a Roman machine for throwing arrows and javelins, [1] [2] 12 feet (3.7 m) or 15 feet (4.6 m) long, at the enemy. The name comes from the Greek katapeltes (καταπέλτης), because it could pierce or 'go through' (kata) shields (peltas).
In its earliest form, Greek fire was hurled onto enemy forces by firing a burning cloth-wrapped ball, perhaps containing a flask, using a form of light catapult, most probably a seaborne variant of the Roman light catapult or onager. These were capable of hurling loads of around 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb) a distance of 350–450 m (380–490 yd).
The harpax or harpago (Koinē Greek: ἅρπαγα lit. "grabber, seizer, robber"; GEN ἅρπαγος harpagos) [1] was a Roman catapult-shot grapnel created by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa for use against Sextus Pompey during the naval battles of the Sicilian revolt. [2] The harpax allowed an enemy vessel to be harpooned and then winched ...
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 (980 ft) with 1 lb (0.45 kg) lead shot, and using another machine, 370 m (1,210 ft) with 1 m (3 ft 3 in) bolt. This bolt penetrated an iron-plated shield 3 cm (1.2 in) thick to ...
Basic diagram of an onager, a type of catapult. A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. [1] A catapult uses the sudden release of stored potential energy to propel its payload.
The onager (UK: / ˈ ɒ n ə dʒ ə /, / ˈ ɒ n ə ɡ ə /; US: / ˈ ɑː n ə dʒ ə r /) [1] was a Roman torsion-powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm.
Built around the beginning of the 1st century BCE, the Antikythera Mechanism is the oldest known analog computer in human history, and there’s an enduring mystery surrounding what it was used for.
Historians such as Livy attributed heavy Roman losses to these machines, together with catapults also devised by Archimedes. The plausibility of this invention was tested in 1999 in the BBC series Secrets of the Ancients and again in early 2005 in the Discovery Channel series Superweapons of the Ancient World .