Siegecraft in Ancient Greece
it was still recommended by Plato, in Laws, who was concerned not to separate topographically the device of collective defense from the ordinary framework of private life, in order to increase the combativeness of the citizens.
The structural autonomy and architectural power of walled enclosures tended, however, to be reinforced in the course of the 1st millennium B.C., given the progress of construction techniques, the enrichment of communities and the concentration of social resources in the hands of palace aristocracies (perhaps also influenced by the Hittites, who by that time had already forged a reputation as experts in fortification).
the Mycenaean acropolis, then royal residences, was surrounded by imposing defensive walls of Cyclopean blocks, more or less well hewn and laid without mortar.
Their width varied between 4 and 17 m, and their height between 4 and 9 m. Their layout was generally determined by the orography, but sometimes it was also divided into short rectilinear sections separated by small slits, as in Gla, a place located on an island in the Copais lake of Boeotia.
The gates were the only weak points of the fortified perimeter; hence the exceptional precautions taken to force the assailant to present himself before them in an unfavorable position, on his left side, which was not protected by the shield and exposed to the weapons of the defenders.
It was rather by besieging them that one could hope to seize these fortresses, in which the population of the territory probably took refuge; for this reason, the builders often took the precaution of fitting out subway galleries leading to fountains located at the foot of the defensive walls.
What is important in urban enclosures, whose number increased considerably from the archaic period onwards, was their static value, the passive aspect of their power; formed by a structure of sun-dried bricks, generally founded on a base of dressed stones, with few openings and equipped with some square flanking towers (especially near the gates), they were clearly not designed to withstand a full-fledged assault.
During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were the only ones who had the economic means and the political courage to sacrifice in cold blood the defense of the territory to the safeguarding of the city, as Pericles had advised them, since for them it was the only way to maintain their empire (their tribute provider), which was threatened by the terrestrial superiority of the Spartans.
The development of Greek poliorcetics dates from the moment when —while the civic body tended to become detached from the territory and identified with the city— the problem of defense was presented in purely technical terms.
It was no accident, nor the mere effect of a specific cause of a technical, social or political nature, that Greek poliorcetics reached its apogee in the time of Alexander the Great and the Diadochi, during the course of the fierce conflicts that accompanied the birth of the empires.
It was the result of a conjunction of new forces and appetites, liberated by the explosion of the city: the disappearance of the citizen-soldier, the failure of the hoplitic mode of combat and the unleashing of power turned absolute, which fed itself and was concerned only with becoming greater.
Thus the Syracusans, at war with the Carthaginians, were the first Greeks to become aware, at the end of the 5th century B.C., of the effectiveness of the "continuous assault" carried out by successive waves and, consequently, of the need to have supplies.
Thus, the improvement of poliorcetics in Greece favored the decline of the citizen-soldier and the development of military professionalism, while aggravating the social and political crisis that had been its origin; all the more so since it was accompanied, from the time of Dionysius I (early 4th century B.C.)
A weapon as primitive as fire did not cease to play an important role in siege warfare throughout ancient times, because wood remained an essential material in civil architecture and even became an essential part of the composition of the most exposed points of the fortifications (gates, patrol paths and various palisades), and also because of the refinements that occurred in incendiary weapons to end the protection systems devised by the defenders.
During the Peloponnesian war a kind of spear-torch of which Thucydides has left us a detailed description was developed and tested against the Athenian entrenchment of Delium in the winter of 424 B.C.
They pushed the machines from afar, with carts, against the defensive wall in the places where there were more vine shoots and wood; then, when it was close, they introduced large bellows in the end of the beam that was on its side and operated them.
He was undoubtedly inspired by Eastern models, since this type of machine was in common use in Western Asia from the time of the last Assyrian Empire, and was known even much earlier, in more primitive forms, from the 3rd millennium B.C.
According to Diodorus Siculus:[9] ...were of unprecedented dimensions, for each had a beam of 120 cubits [53.28 m] covered with iron, provided with a point comparable to the ram of a ship and easy to propel, because it was mounted on wheels and was set in motion, in the course of combat, by more than 1000 men.This technical achievement was later equaled by a man named Hegetor of Byzantium who, according to Athenaeus, Vitruvius and the Byzantine engineer himself, built a ram of equal dimensions, but which was suspended on cables and set in motion by 100 men.
Whether mounted on wheels, placed on rotating cylinders (it was sometimes called a "drill"), or hung on a frame, the battering ram, without undergoing major modifications, remained the favorite weapon of assailants until the end of Ancient times.
onwards, the besiegers also made use of wooden siege towers that allowed them to occupy a dominant position to support with their throwing weapons the action of the battering rams and, sometimes, also to break into the interior of the city.
On the one hand there was the crossbow (gastraphetes, arcuballista), based on the principle of the bow, and the twisting device (the Greek catapult), whose two arms were hooked to skeins of elastic fibers (tendons and animal manes, female hair).
For example, around 275 B.C., calibration tables began to be drawn up establishing fixed relationships between the diameter of the propelling hanks, the length or weight of the projectiles and the dimensions of the different parts of the machines.
Throwing machines played an increasing role in open field combat and naval battles, but they were still essentially intended for siege warfare.
If the approach is from the sea, it is necessary to have panels well hidden and provided with nails, and to sow iron and wooden traps and to interrupt with palisades the easily accessible places (...).
[18][19][20] However, it was only during the following two centuries - with a delay in relation to the progress of poliorcetics - that new ideas spread in military architecture, aiming at the diversification and articulation of the means of defense at ground level and at height.
The replacement of the crenellated finial by a high parapet full of windows and even the transformation of the walkway into a partially or totally covered gallery are attested in Heraclea at Latmus and in Athens since the last years of the 4th century B.C.
In the same period, the southern sector of the Miletus enclosure reproduces a rack and pinion layout reinforced by very protruding towers, while in Marseilles, on the shores of the ancient port, a skillfully articulated fortified line was organized.
The ability of the towers to attack from the flank, especially near the gates, was increased both by the development of their power and by the adoption of various varied plans: pentagonal, hexagonal, horseshoe-shaped or of an even more intelligent concept.
These are examples, among many others, of technical innovations that essentially follow the teachings of Philo of Byzantium, and whose importance can be seen in the fact that they continued to be useful, with some improvements, until the end of the Middle Ages.
