A summary of the history, construction and effects in warfare of the projectile-throwing engines of the ancients, with a treatise on the structure, power and management of Turkish and other Oriental bows of mediæval and later times

by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey

Fig. 19.—Casting a dead Horse into a besieged Town by means of a Trebuchet.

From ‘Il Codice Atlantico,’ Leonardo da Vinci, 1445–1520.

PART V
HISTORICAL NOTES ON ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL SIEGE ENGINES AND THEIR EFFECTS IN WARFARE

It is evident that a history of ancient siege engines cannot be created de novo. All that can be done is to quote with running criticism what has already been written about them.

The first mention of balistas and catapults is to be found in the Old Testament, two allusions to these weapons being made therein.

The references are:

2 Chronicles xxvi. 15, ‘And he[20] made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal.’

[20] Uzziah.

Ezekiel xxvi. 9, ‘And he shall set engines of war against thy walls.’

Though the latter extract is not so positive in its wording as the one first given, it undoubtedly refers to engines that cast either stones or arrows against the walls, especially as the prophet previously alludes to other means of assault.