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The polybolos (from Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 p???ß????, from p???? - polys "many, much" + ß???? - ballo "to throw, to hurl") was a repeating ballista
Ballista

The ballista , plural ballistae, was a weapon 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....
 reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria and used in antiquity. Philo of Byzantium
Philo of Byzantium

Philo of Byzantium , also known as Philo Mechanicus, a Greeks writer on mechanics, flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century B.C....
 encountered and described the polybolos, a catapult
Catapult

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance?particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines....
 that like a modern machine gun
Machine gun

A machine gun is a Automatic firearm mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire List of rifle cartridgess in quick succession from an Belt or large-capacity Magazine , typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
 could fire again and again without a need to reload . Philo left a detailed description of the gears that powered its chain drive and that placed bolt after bolt into its firing slot.






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The polybolos (from Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 p???ß????, from p???? - polys "many, much" + ß???? - ballo "to throw, to hurl") was a repeating ballista
Ballista

The ballista , plural ballistae, was a weapon 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....
 reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria and used in antiquity. Philo of Byzantium
Philo of Byzantium

Philo of Byzantium , also known as Philo Mechanicus, a Greeks writer on mechanics, flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century B.C....
 encountered and described the polybolos, a catapult
Catapult

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance?particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines....
 that like a modern machine gun
Machine gun

A machine gun is a Automatic firearm mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire List of rifle cartridgess in quick succession from an Belt or large-capacity Magazine , typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
 could fire again and again without a need to reload . Philo left a detailed description of the gears that powered its chain drive and that placed bolt after bolt into its firing slot. No archeological evidence has yet been found that would authenticate later accounts of its use.

Mechanism


The polybolos would have differed from an ordinary ballista in that it had a wooden magazine over the mensa (the cradle that holds the bolt prior to firing asssss) capable of holding several dozen bolts. The mechanism is unique in that it is driven by a flat-link chain connected to a windlass
Windlass

A windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt....
; the flat-link chain is an invention occasionally wrongly attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
.

When loading a new bolt, the windlass is rotated counter-clockwise with the trigger claw raised; this drives the mensa forward towards the bow string, where a metal lug pushes the trigger under the trigger claw, which is closed over the string.

Once the string is locked into the trigger mechanism, the windlass is then rotated clockwise, drawing the mensa back, drawing the bow string with it.

A round wooden pole in the bottom of the magazine is rotated down toward the mensa as it is drawn to the back of the polybolos, dropping a single bolt into the tray, ready to be fired. As the mensa is pulled farther back, it meets another lug like the one that locked the string into position, this one pushes the trigger and automatically fires the polybolos, and the process is repeated. The repetition provides the weapon's name, from the Greek "poly" (multiple) "bolos" (throw), or simply a repeating weapon.

See also

  • Repeating crossbow
    Repeating crossbow

    A repeating crossbow is a crossbow where the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the Quarrel and shooting it can be accomplished with a simple one-handed movement, all the while keeping the crossbow stationary....


External links

  • The Repeating Catapult of Dionysius