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Greek Catapults and Catapult Technology: Science, Technology, and War in the Ancient World Author(S): Barton C

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Greek Catapults and Catapult Technology: Science, Technology, and War in the Ancient World Author(S): Barton C Greek Catapults and Catapult Technology: Science, Technology, and War in the Ancient World Author(s): Barton C. Hacker Source: Technology and Culture, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), pp. 34-50 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Society for the History of Technology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3102042 Accessed: 11/10/2010 02:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Society for the History of Technology and The Johns Hopkins University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Technology and Culture. http://www.jstor.org GreekCatapults and CatapultTechnology SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND WAR IN THE ANCIENT WORLD BARTON C. HACKER Scholars and laymen alike have long displayed a lively interest in ancient catapults.1Research has focused on the most obvious problem: How did catapultswork? Beyond its inherent interest, an answer to this question could perhaps contribute to a fuller understandingof the mechanicaltechnology of antiquity in general.The question itself has largely been answered. Reliable information on the mechanical characteristicsof catapults comes primarily from three sources: the Belopoiikaof Philon of Byzantium,2the tenth book of Vitruvius' De architectura,3and the Belopoiikaof Heron of Alexandria.4Philon and Heron belonged to the school of mechanicianscentered at Alexandria in Hellenistic times; the two treatises spring from a single tradition, though Philon flourished about 250 B.C., Heron A.D. 62.5 Vitruvius, a Roman engineer, composed his treatise toward the end of the first cen- MR. HACKER,formerly a lecturer in the history of science at the University of Chicago, is now a research associateat the University of Houston and with the His- torical Office of the Manned Spacecraft Center, where he is engaged in writing a history of Project Gemini. 1 I use "catapult"as a generic term for missile-throwing engines of war. Problems of nomenclature, endemic to any discussion of these machines, I shall consider in greater detail further on. 2 Philons Belopoiika (viertes Buch der Mechanik), trans. H. Diels and E. Schramm (Abhandlungen der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch- historische Klasse, No. 16 [1918] [Berlin, 1919]). 3 Vitruvius De architecturalibri decem, ed. F. Krohn (Leipzig, 1912). 4 Herons Belopoiika (Schrift vom Geschiitzbau), trans. H. Diels and E. Schramm (Abhandlungen der kdniglichen preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historischeKlasse, No. 2 [1918] [Berlin, 1918]). 5 When Heron lived was long a subject of controversy. Heron presents data on an eclipse of the moon in one of his works, however, that will only fit an eclipse that took place in A.D.62. See A. G. Drachmann, Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics (Acta historica scientiarum naturalium et medicina- lium, Vol. IV [Copenhagen,1948]), pp. 74-77. 34 Greek Catapultsand CatapultTechnology 35 tury B.C. Two other extant treatises on catapult construction, by Biton6 and Athenaios,7 are too obscure to be technically useful; their dates are as obscure as their data.8 Scholarly efforts to re-establish the principles of ancient catapult construction date from the mid-nineteenth century and culminated in the definitive investigation of Colonel Erwin Schramm in Germany, 1903-4.9 Quite apart from such scholarly investigations, the literature on catapults has been swelled by the contributions of enthusiasts dating back at least to the eighteenth century.10 Such minor obscurities as persist reflect shortcomings in the surviving texts rather than failures of scholarship. We may safely assume that no further research will 6Bitons Bau von Belagerungsmaschinenund Geschiitzen, trans. A. Rehm and E. Schramm (Abhandlungen der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historischeAbteilung, N.S., No. 2 [Munich, 1929]). 7 Athenaios iiber Maschinen. Griechische Poliorketiker,mit den handschriftlichen Bildern, III, trans.Rudolf Schneider (Abhandlungender kiniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gdttingen, Philologisch-historischeKlasse, N.S., Vol. XII, No. 5 [Berlin, 1912]). 8 Athenaios addressedhis treatise to one Marcellus,who has usually been identified with the Roman conqueror of Syracuse (212 B.c.). But in The Mechanical Tech- nology of Greek and Roman Antiquity: A Study of the Literary Sources (Copen- hagen, 1963), p. 11, A. G. Drachmannsays that the proper Marcelluswas the son-in- law of Augustus, which means that Athenaios flourished at the beginning of the first century A.D. Dating Biton involves a similar problem. He addressed his treatise to King Attalos of Pergamum,who may have been any of the three bearing that name; accordingly, Biton flourished sometime between 241 and 133 B.C.,the inclusive dates of their reigns. 9 The best short account, which includes a complete bibliography, is E. Schramm, "Poliorketik," in Johannes Kromayer and Georg Veith (eds.), Heerwesen und Kriegfiihrung der Griechen und Romer (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, Sec. 4, Part III, Vol. II [Munich, 1928]), pp. 209-45. Schramm,Die antiken Geschiitze der Saalburg (Berlin, 1919), is definitive. For a recent brief and authoritativesurvey, see Drachmann, Mechanical Technology of Greek and Roman Antiquity (n. 8 above), pp. 186-90. Other useful accounts include: Hermann Diels, Antike Technik: Sieben Vortrdge (2d ed.; Leipzig and Berlin, 1920), pp. 91-120; W. W. Tarn, Hel- lenistic Military and Naval Developments (Cambridge, 1930), pp. 101-18; and A. R. Hall, "Military Technology," in Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall, and Trevor I. Williams (eds.), A History of Technology, II (Oxford, 1956), 695- 730. 10See, e.g., Francis Grose, Military Antiquities respecting a History of the English Army from the Conquest to the Present Time (London, 1786), II, 286-302; Ralph Payne-Gallwey, The Crossbow, ... with a Treatise on the Ballista and Catapult of the Ancients (London, 1903); and Payne-Gallwey's A Summary of the History, Construction, and Effects in Warfare of the Projectile-throwing Engines of the Ancients (London, 1907). 36 BartonC. Hacker substantiallyalter our present knowledge of the mechanical charac- teristicsof catapults.In his recent study of the literary sources for the mechanicaltechnology of ancient Greece and Rome, Aage G. Drach- mann justifiablyconfined himself to a short survey of engines of war, noting, "Of all the technical writings of Antiquity those on engines of war have received by far the best treatment.The texts have been edited and translated;the figures have been reproduced and inter- preted; the catapults have been reconstructedand tried."" I shall briefly review the current state of knowledge concerning the mechanical characteristicsof catapults. Were this my sole purpose, however, I could scarcely excuse adding to an already voluminous literature.But need the study of so successful an innovation as the catapult rest complete when its mechanical characteristicshave been established?I think not. By looking at the catapult as a technological innovation,we are led to some thought-provokingquestions that have scarcely been raisedin the existing literature.Why, for example,were catapults so successful, so widely adopted? What role, if any, did Greek science play in the development of catapults?What were the consequencesof a highly developed catapult technology? Questions like these may be asked about any technological innova- tion. Because of the catapult'smilitary significance, however, asking such questionsabout catapultsmay be more fruitful than asking them about other ancient inventions. We are not restricted to information drawn from surviving technical treatisesand archeologicalfindings;12 we have, in addition,evidence on the development,spread, and use of catapultsfrom militaryand politicalhistory and from military treatises. In this, as in all fields of ancient history, the historian must rely on scattered, fragmentary, and heterogeneoussources. Nevertheless, we may follow the introduction and diffusion of new weapons far more readily than of any other kind of technical advance.My main purpose, then, is to suggest some of these larger implicationsof the advanced catapult technology of antiquity. * * * First, however, I want to describe briefly the mechanical charac- teristics of the machinesI shall be talking about and to indicate some 11Drachmann, Mechanical Technology of Greek and Roman Antiquity (n. 8 above), p. 186. 12 The most important archeological
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