Ballista

The ballista (Latin, from Greek - ballistra[1] and that from - ball, "throw"),[2] plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a prod, the springs consisting of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions ejected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller sniper weapon, the Scorpio,[3] and possibly the polybolos.

Greek weapon
The early ballista in Ancient Rome was developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes. The gastraphetes ('belly-bow') was a hand held crossbow. It had a composite prod and was spanned by bracing the front end of the weapon against the ground while placing the end of a slider mechanism against the stomach. The operator would then walk forward to arm the weapon while a ratchet preventing it from shooting during loading. This produced a weapon which, it was claimed, could be operated by a person of average strength but which had a power that allowed it to be successfully used against armoured troops. The oxybeles was a bigger and heavier construction employing a winch, and was mounted on a tripod. It had a lower rate of fire and was used as a siege engine. With the invention of torsion spring bundle technology, the first ballista was built. The advantage of this new technology was the fast relaxation time of this system. Thus it was possible to shoot lighter projectiles with higher velocities over a longer distance. For an oxybeles, the rules of a torsion weapon demanded that the more energy could be stored, the thicker the prod had to be and the heavier the projectile, to increase the amount of stored energy delivered to the projectile. The earliest form of the ballista is thought to have been developed for Dionysius of Syracuse, circa 400 BC. The Greek ballista was a siege weapon. All components that were not made of wood were transported in the baggage train. It would be assembled with local wood, if necessary. Some were positioned inside large, armored, mobile siege towers or even on the edge of a battlefield. For all the tactical advantages offered, it was only under Philip II of Macedon and even more so under his son Alexander, that the ballista began to develop and gain recognition as both siege engine and field artillery. Polybius reports about the usage of smaller more portable ballistae, called scorpions, during the Second Punic War. Since these weapons delivered lighter munitions (thus delivering less energy on impact) it is a widely held opinion that they were used more as an anti-personnel role, or to destroy lighter structures. A less accurate weapon like an onager or other single-arm artillery could hit with more force, and thus would be the more useful weapon against reinforced wood or heavy masonry. 1

Ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt easily to prevailing battlefield situations in real time. As the role of battlefield artillery became more sophisticated, a universal joint (which was invented just for this function) was integrated into the ballista's stand, allowing the operators to alter the trajectory and firing direction of the ballista as required without a lengthy disassembly of the machine.

Mangonel

A simple illustration of an ancient catapult A mangonel (derived from Greco-Latin word manganon, meaning "engine of war")[1][2] was a type of catapult or siege engine used in the medieval period to throw projectiles at a castle's walls. The exact meaning of the term is debatable, and several possibilities have been suggested. Mangonel may also be indirectly referring to the 'mangon' a French hard stone found in the south of france. It may have been a name for counterweight artillery (trebuchets), possibly either a men assisted fixed-counterweight type, or one with a particular type of frame.[3][4] The Arabic term manajaniq comes from the same word, and applies to various kinds of trebuchet. It is also possible that it referred to more than one kind of engine, in different times or places, or was a general term. For this use see trebuchet. In modern parlance catapult is often used as the name of a Medieval form of onager, though there is little evidence for this historically. In this sense, mangonel had poorer accuracy than a trebuchet (which was introduced later, shortly before the discovery and widespread usage of gunpowder). The mangonel threw projectiles on a lower trajectory and at a higher velocity than the trebuchet with the intention of destroying walls, rather than hurling projectiles over them. It was more suited to field battles.

Role in battle
Mangonels shot heavy projectiles from a bowl-shaped bucket at the end of the arm.[citation needed] The bucket could launch more rocks than a sling; this made it different from an onager. The sling was changed to a bucket for more force when firing. In combat, mangonels hurled rocks, burning objects (fire pots, vessels filled with flammable materials that created a fireball on impact), or anything else readily available to the attacking and defending forces. The more unusual types of 2

projectile included dead (and often partially decomposed) carcasses of animals or people (and even human heads), used to intimidate, demoralize, and spread disease among the besieged. This tactic often proved effective. The short supply of food, which was often of low quality or rotting, combined with the cramped living space of the defenders, poor hygiene, and vermin infestations provided an ideal scenario for the spread of disease. It should be noted, however, that the mangonel's principal role in battle, particularly medieval battle, was to knock down a castle or city's walls and infrastructure, not to kill troops. Its unpredictable, yet powerful strikes were best suited to hitting broad, non-moving targets such as buildings or walls.

Middle ages
The mangonel in the Middle Ages had a different connotation from the Roman onager. It was more likely a fixed counter-weight siege engine similar to a trebuchet; its only difference from a trebuchet was its fixed counter-weight which was pulled down by several men. This way, with trained workers, the leader of the craft could adjust the strength applied to the mangonel. Working system of the mangonel The mangonel was loaded by lowering a rope with a hook at its end; this hook was tied to another rope connected to a "pulling" system (this could be a pulley compound,a gear compound, or even an animal traction system) to pull the rope and lower the main rod. Once the rod was lowered a few workers were responsible for the attachment of a sling where the projectile was placed. When the mangonel was loaded the leader gave the order to release the main rod, and at the same time several men (usually around 20) pulled the ropes attached to the counterweight. If the crew was well-trained, it was possible to control whether the projectile traveled in a low or high trajectory. If the crew was not well-trained then the risk of the projectile killing friendly troops or even the crew itself existed.[5]

Onager (siege weapon)

The onager was a Roman siege engine, which derived its name from the singing action of the machine, similar to that of an onager (wild ass), it was created as a simpler, cheaper version of the ballista. The Onager is a type of catapult that uses torsional pressure, generally from twisted rope, to store energy for the shot. The onager consisted of a large frame placed on the ground to whose front end a vertical frame of solid timber was rigidly fixed; through the vertical frame ran an axle, which had a single stout spoke. On the extremity of the spoke was a sling used to launch a projectile. Some onagers, as depicted in ancient drawings used a bowl-shaped bucket instead of a sling to fire the projectile. The onager's framework is made out of two beams from oak, which curve into humps. In the middle they have quite large holes in them, in which strong sinew ropes are stretched and twisted. A long arm is then inserted between the bundle of rope, at its end it has a pin and a pouch. It strikes on a huge buffer with a sack stuffed with fine chaff and secured by tight binding. When it comes 3

to combat, a round stone (often clay balls with combustible substance in them, which explode on impact and burst into flames) is put in the pouch and the arm is winched down. Then, the master artilleryman strikes the pin with a hammer, and with a big blow, the stone is launched towards its target. Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman writer. In action the spoke or arm was forced down, against the tension of twisted ropes or other springs, by a windlass, and then suddenly released. As the weighted sling swung outwards through centrifugal acceleration, one end would release, as with a staff-sling, and the projectile would be hurled forward. The arm would then be caught by a padded beam or bed, whence it could be winched back again. The onagers of the Roman Empire were mainly used for besieging forts or settlements. They would often be armed with huge stones or rocks that could be covered with a combustible substance and set alight. In the Middle Ages (recorded from around 1200) a less powerful version of the onager was used that held the projectile in a fixed bowl instead of a sling. This was so that many small projectiles could be thrown, as opposed to one larger one. This engine was sometimes called the mangonel, although the same name may have been used for a variety of siege engines.

Trebuchet
A trebuchet[nb 1] (French trbuchet) is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes called a "counterweight trebuchet" or "counterpoise trebuchet" in order to distinguish it from an earlier weapon that has come to be called the "traction trebuchet", the original version with pulling men instead of a counterweight. The counterweight trebuchet appeared in both Christian and Muslim lands around the Mediterranean in the twelfth century. It could fling projectiles of up to three hundred and fifty pounds (140 kg) at high speeds into enemy fortifications. The trebuchet did not become obsolete until the 15th century, well after the introduction of gunpowder, which appeared in Europe in second half of 13th century.