A catapult is a device that uses stored energy to launch an object over a distance without explosives. The name passed through Latin catapulta from the Ancient Greek katapeltēs, a word formed from terms meaning “downwards” or “against” and “to hurl.”
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| Catapult (Welt.de) |
The earliest securely dated Greek mechanical artillery was developed at Syracuse in Greece's Sicilian world around 399 BC, under Dionysius I. These early catapults were bolt-shooting weapons, and they were used against the Carthaginian stronghold of Motya in 397 BC.
Engineers in Macedonia later advanced torsion artillery. Philip II used arrow-shooting catapults at the siege of Perinthus in 340 BC, while his son Alexander the Great deployed both bolt-shooters and stone-throwers during his campaigns.
Most ancient catapults stored energy in bent wooden bows or in tightly twisted bundles of sinew, hair or cord. Releasing that tension or torsion drove the weapon's arms and propelled its missile.
During the Roman siege of Syracuse from 214 to 212 BC, Archimedes helped defend the city with catapults of different ranges, forcing Roman attackers to keep their distance.
A trebuchet is a type of catapult powered by a long pivoting beam. Unlike ancient torsion engines, the most powerful medieval versions used a falling counterweight and a sling to throw heavy stones.
A famous account of the 1346 siege of Caffa says that Mongol forces hurled plague-infected corpses over the walls. Historians continue to dispute the story: it comes from a single contemporary writer who was not an eyewitness, and the broader claim that such attacks were common in the Black Death era is poorly supported.
Catapults briefly returned to military service during World War I. The British Leach trench catapult could throw a Mills grenade as far as 150 yards (137 metres), but by 1916 it had been made obsolete by the Stokes mortar.
The word also describes machines that launch aircraft. On November 12, 1912, U.S. Navy pilot Theodore G. Ellyson made a successful catapult take-off in a hydroplane from a barge at the Washington Navy Yard; such technology was later adapted for the aircraft carrier.
In January 2011, smugglers were filmed using a homemade catapult to launch bales of marijuana across the border from Mexico into the United States. Mexican authorities seized the catapult, a vehicle and about 45 pounds (20 kilograms) of the drug; the device could throw approximately 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) at a time.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Science; Encyclopaedia Britannica: Siege of Syracuse; Encyclopaedia Britannica: Trebuchet; The Trench: Catapulting Corpses; Australian War Memorial; U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command; ABC News
Engineers in Macedonia later advanced torsion artillery. Philip II used arrow-shooting catapults at the siege of Perinthus in 340 BC, while his son Alexander the Great deployed both bolt-shooters and stone-throwers during his campaigns.
Most ancient catapults stored energy in bent wooden bows or in tightly twisted bundles of sinew, hair or cord. Releasing that tension or torsion drove the weapon's arms and propelled its missile.
During the Roman siege of Syracuse from 214 to 212 BC, Archimedes helped defend the city with catapults of different ranges, forcing Roman attackers to keep their distance.
A trebuchet is a type of catapult powered by a long pivoting beam. Unlike ancient torsion engines, the most powerful medieval versions used a falling counterweight and a sling to throw heavy stones.
A famous account of the 1346 siege of Caffa says that Mongol forces hurled plague-infected corpses over the walls. Historians continue to dispute the story: it comes from a single contemporary writer who was not an eyewitness, and the broader claim that such attacks were common in the Black Death era is poorly supported.
Catapults briefly returned to military service during World War I. The British Leach trench catapult could throw a Mills grenade as far as 150 yards (137 metres), but by 1916 it had been made obsolete by the Stokes mortar.
The word also describes machines that launch aircraft. On November 12, 1912, U.S. Navy pilot Theodore G. Ellyson made a successful catapult take-off in a hydroplane from a barge at the Washington Navy Yard; such technology was later adapted for the aircraft carrier.
In January 2011, smugglers were filmed using a homemade catapult to launch bales of marijuana across the border from Mexico into the United States. Mexican authorities seized the catapult, a vehicle and about 45 pounds (20 kilograms) of the drug; the device could throw approximately 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) at a time.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Science; Encyclopaedia Britannica: Siege of Syracuse; Encyclopaedia Britannica: Trebuchet; The Trench: Catapulting Corpses; Australian War Memorial; U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command; ABC News
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