Helepolis
The Helepolis ( Greek ἑλέπολις 'city occupier '; plural helepoleis ) was an ancient Greek movable siege tower , first built in the 4th century BC. Is occupied.
Description and use
This siege tower was conical and open at the rear. With nine floors, it was 41 meters high, according to Plutarch . The width of the tower was half the height, about 20 meters. The Helepolis stood on eight massive wooden rolls that were 3.6 meters thick. The Helepolis featured a huge coil on the bottom floor of the siege tower, which was driven by up to 200 men inside the tower. This coil then drove the rollers of the tower so that the Helepolis could move forward independently. Otherwise the soldiers would have had to push the tower unprotected from behind or pull it from the front.
Furthermore, the Helepolis was lined with iron plates on the front, which protected it against projectiles and fire. According to Vitruvius , this siege machine could withstand projectiles of up to 30 kilograms. Inside, two wide stairs led to the individual floors. The machine was equipped with different ballistae on each floor: In the lowest there were huge catapults that could throw stones weighing 80 kilograms. On the second floor there were war machines that could shoot stones weighing 27 kilograms; with those on the upper floors it was possible to shoot stones weighing 14 kilograms. Archers and javelin throwers were stationed on the upper platform, and from there they could fire at the defenders of the fortress. However, all this equipment brought the vehicle to a dead weight of 160 tons.
history
The Helepolis, perhaps based on oriental or Carthaginian models, was probably already used by Dionysius I of Syracuse ; the term is only documented for Alexander the great , who used a Helepolis built by a Poseidonios during the siege of Tire . The use of Helepoleis by Demetrios I Poliorketes during the sieges of Salamis on Cyprus in 307 BC was particularly well known. BC and Rhodes 304 BC In this attack, the Helepolis, built by the Athenian Epimachus , failed because the defenders after Vitruvius put the field in front of the city under water and the Helepolis sank and could no longer be moved. The Helepolis excelled in later battles. This siege machine was more terrifying than really effective: Due to its weight, the Helepolis was difficult to maneuver and not suitable for smaller cities.
literature
- Leonhard Burckhardt : Helepolis. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Sp.?.
- Duncan B. Campbell: Greek and Roman Siege Machinery 399 BC-AD 363 . Osprey Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1841766054 .
- Peter Connolly : Greece and Rome at War . Greenhill Books, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-303-X .
- Edmund Lammert : Ἑλέπολις . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 2, Stuttgart 1912, Col. 2849.
