This is a list ofsiege engines invented throughhistory. Asiege engine is aweapon used to circumvent or destroyfortifications such asdefensive walls,castles,bunkers andfortified gateways.Petrary is the generic term for medieval stone throwing siege engines.
| Name | Image | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siege tower | 9th Century BC | Assyria | A giant mobile tower, often constructed at location. | |
| Battering ram | 9th Century BC | Assyria | Firstsiege engine recorded to be used, soon adopted bySparta.[1] | |
| Catapult | 500 BC | Greece | A signaturesiege engine, used until World War I.[2] | |
| Lithobolos | 5th Century BC | Magadha | Siege engines that propel a stone along a flat track with two rigid bow arms powered by torsion. Invented by theKingdom of Magadha. | |
| Siege ladder | 6th Century BC | China | Consists of attacking soldiers advancing to the base of a wall, setting ladders, and climbing to engage the defending forces. | |
| Assault cover | China | Protective covers were used in sieges. The most typical were mobile screens and assault wagons. More complex contraptions such as plaited galleries were used formining and filling inmoats. | ||
| Watchtower cart | China | Static observation towers such as the nest and watchtower carts were used to see into the city. Static towers were also used in close proximity to enemy walls to rain down projectiles on the defenders. | ||
| Ballista | 400 BC | Syracuse, Sicily | A very large and powerfulcrossbow. Could be mounted oncarts. Similar weapons mounted onelephants were used by theKhmer Empire.[3] | |
| Onager | 353 BC | Rome | The Onager was a Roman torsion powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. | |
| Trebuchet | 4th Century BC | China | Similar to thecatapult, but uses a swinging arm to launch projectiles. It is usually considered to be stronger than the catapult.[4] | |
| Oxybeles | 375 BC | Greece | An oversizedgastraphetes, a composite bow placed on a stand with a stock and a trigger. | |
| Helepolis | 305 BC | Rhodes | Greek siege tower first used in Rhodes.[5] | |
| Polybolos | 289 BC | Greece | A siege engine with torsion mechanism, drawing its power from twisted sinew-bundles. | |
| Sambuca | 213 BC | Sicily | Roman seaborne siege engine build on two ships. | |
| Siege hook | 189 BC | Rome | A siege hook is a weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege. The method used was to penetrate the protective wall with the hook and then retract it, pulling away some of the wall with it. | |
| Scorpio | 52 BC | Rome | Similar to theballista, but smaller. Was sometimes mounted on a mule-drawn cart.[6] | |
| Harpax | 36 BC | Rome | A catapult-shotgrapnel created byMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa for use againstSextus Pompey during the naval battles of theSicilian Revolt. | |
| Carroballista | 101 AD | Rome | A handheld siege engine which shotbolts that were smaller than those in other forms of ballistae and generally made of metal. | |
| Catapulta | Rome | A Roman siege engine for throwingarrows andjavelins. The name comes from the Greekkatapeltes because it could pierce or 'go through' (kata)shields (peltas). The catapulta was made of wood and were placed on stands. | ||
| Mangonel | 6th Century AD | China | A type oftrebuchet which usestraction. | |
| Springald | 11th century | Byzantium | An inward shooting piece of siege equipment.[7] | |
| Artillery | First seen in 14th century, only called artillery around the 15th and 16th century[8] | China | After the invention of gunpowder in China, the ability to create firearms and siege artillery was open, siege technology advanced from here but, under the artillery category. There is fewer use for this kind of technology today after the invention of rockets and high grade explosives.[9] |
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