ABSTRACT
In 215 BC the Roman general Marcellus led an army to Sicily for the purpose of capturing the city of Syracuse taking with him a range of military technology that included siege towers and a catapult so big that it required eight ships lashed together to carry it. On arriving outside Syracuse, Marcellus discovered that its defences had been augmented by a range of machines devised by the Greek scientist and engineer Archimedes and that assaults were met by a bar rage of missiles from giant catapults and by boulders dropped from cranes that swung out over the city walls. Most terrifying were the giant 'claws' that grasped and shook the Roman ships as they tried to enter the harbour. In the words of Pliny:
'The ships, drawn by engines within and whirled about, were dashed against steep rocks that stood ju tting out under the walls, w ith great destruction of the soldiers that were aboard them. A ship was frequently lifted up to a great height in the air - a dreadful thing to behold - and was rolled to and fro, and kept swinging, until the mariners were all thrown out, when at length it was dashed against the rocks, or was dropped/
As to the role of Archim edes, Livy com m ented:
'An operation launched with such strength might well have proved suc cessful, had it not been for the presence in Syracuse at that time of one indi vidual - Archimedes, unrivalled in his knowledge of astronomy, was even more remarkable as the inventor and constructor of types of artillery and military devices of various kinds, by the aid of which he was able with one finger, as it were, to frustrate the most laborious operations of the enemy'.
