{{short description|Ancient Greek siege engine}} [[File:Ancient Mechanical Artillery. Pic 01.jpg|thumb|Arsenal of ancient mechanical artillery in the Saalburg, Germany; left: polybolos reconstruction by the German engineer Erwin Schramm (1856–1935)]] [[File:A reconstruction of a repeating catapult of Dionysius of Alexandria (3rd c. B.C.), Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.jpg|thumb|A modern reconstruction of the repeating "polybolos" catapult of Dionysius of Alexandria, in Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Athens, Greece.]] The '''polybolos''' (the name means "multi-thrower" in Greek<ref>{{cite book| last = Prenderghast| first = Gerald | title = Repeating and Multi-Fire Weapons: A History from the Zhuge Crossbow Through the AK-47| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_bhTDwAAQBAJ&q=Polybolos+dionysus&pg=PA14 | publisher = McFarland | date= March 2018 | page = 14 | isbn = 978-1476666662}}</ref>) was an ancient Greek repeating ballista, reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria (a 3rd-century BC Greek engineer at the Rhodes arsenal,<ref name="Soedel & Foley">{{cite journal|author= Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley|url=http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/Technology/en/Catapults.html |title= Ancient Catapults|journal=Scientific American|volume=240|issue=3 |date=March 1979|pages= 124–125|doi= 10.1038/scientificamerican0379-150 |bibcode=1979SciAm.240c.150S |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190520164059/http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/Technology/en/Catapults.html|archive-date= 2019-05-20|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Alan Wilkins|title=Roman Artillery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCkGVJG6XOUC|year=2003|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-0-7478-0575-5|page=8}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>) and used in antiquity. The polybolos was not a crossbow since it used a torsion mechanism, drawing its power from twisted sinew-bundles.<ref>Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China'', Volume 5, Part 6 (1995), pp. 172-173.</ref> However the earlier and similar oxybeles employed a tension crossbow mechanism, before it was abandoned in favor of torsion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kinard |first=Jeff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hbHEAAAQBAJ |title=Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact |date=2007-03-28 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-85109-561-2 |pages=3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kinard |first=Jeff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hbHEAAAQBAJ |title=Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact |date=2007-03-28 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-85109-561-2 |pages=5 |language=en}}</ref>
Philo of Byzantium ({{circa}} 280 BC – {{circa}} 220 BC) encountered and described a weapon similar to the polybolos, a catapult that could fire again and again without a need for manual reloading.<ref>Philo of Byzantium, "Belopoeica", 73.34</ref> Philo left a detailed description of the gears that powered its chain drive (the oldest known application of such a mechanism<ref name="Soedel & Foley"/>) and that placed bolt after bolt into its firing slot.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
== Design ==
The polybolos would have differed from an ordinary ballista in that it had a wooden hopper magazine, capable of holding several dozen bolts, that was positioned over the mensa (the cradle that holds the bolt prior to firing). The mechanism is unique in that it is driven by a flat-link chain connected to a windlass. The mensa itself was a sliding plank (similar to that on the gastraphetes) containing the claw latches used to pull back the drawstring and was attached to the chain link. When loading a new bolt and spanning the drawstring, the windlass is rotated counterclockwise by an operator standing on the left side of the weapon; this drives the mensa forward towards the bow string. At the very front, a metal lug triggers the latching claws into catching the drawstring.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Once the string is held firm by the trigger mechanism, the windlass is then rotated clockwise; pulling the mensa back and drawing the bow string with it. At the same time, a round wooden pole in the bottom of the magazine is rotated via a spiral groove being driven by a rivet attached to the sliding mensa; dropping a single bolt from a carved notch in the rotating pole. With the drawstring pulled back and a bolt loaded on the mensa, the polybolos is ready to be fired. As the windlass is rotated further back to the very back end, the claws on the mensa meets another lug like the one that pushed the claws into catching the string. This one causes the claws to disengage the drawstring and automatically fires the loaded bolt. Upon the bolt being fired, the process is repeated. The repetition provides the weapon's name, in Greek {{lang|grc|πολυβόλος}}, "throwing many missiles",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpolubo%2Flos πολυβόλος], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> from {{lang|grc|πολύς}} ({{Transliteration|grc|polys}}), "multiple, many"<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpolu%2Fs πολύς], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> and {{lang|grc|-βόλος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|-bolos}}) "thrower", in turn from {{lang|grc|βάλλω}} ({{Transliteration|grc|ballo}}), "to throw, to hurl",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dba%2Fllw βάλλω], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> literally a multithrower.
A series of marks from ancient impacts on the walls of Pompeii, similar to those made by modern machine guns have been attributed to a polybolos operated by the troops of Roman commander Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who besieged the city in 89 BCE.<ref name="Pompeii">{{cite web | last=Brown | first=Taylor Mitchell | title=Ancient 'machine-gun' damage discovered on walls of Pompeii | website=Scientific American | date=2026-04-20 | url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-roman-machine-gun-damage-discovered-on-pompeii-walls/ | access-date=2026-04-20}}</ref>
== Popular culture==
In 2010, a ''MythBusters'' episode was dedicated to building and testing a replica, and concluded that its existence as a historical weapon was plausible. However, the machine MythBusters built was prone to breakdowns that had to be fixed multiple times.<ref>[https://mythresults.com/arrow-machine-gun Episode 152: Arrow Machine Gun]. mythresults.com, November 3, 2010.</ref>
== See also == * Gastraphetes * Repeating crossbow * Rapid fire crossbow * Chain gun * Panjagan
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *Duncan B. Campbell and Brian Delf, ''Greek and Roman Artillery 399 BC–AD 363'', New Vanguard series 89, Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford 2003. {{ISBN|1 84176 634 8}} *Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology; Part 6, Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995. {{ISBN|978-0521327275}}, 052132727X
== External links == {{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071014012016/http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/RepCatapult.htm The Repeating Catapult of Dionysius] * [http://www.downvids.net/the-repeating-039-039-polybolos-039-039-catapult-of-dionysios-of-alexandria-407998.html Reconstructed Polybolos in action] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202233129/http://www.downvids.net/the-repeating-039-039-polybolos-039-039-catapult-of-dionysios-of-alexandria-407998.html |date=2013-12-02 }} (clip)
{{Ancient mechanical artillery and hand-held missile weapons}}
Category:Ancient Greek artillery Category:Projectile weapons Category:Lost inventions