Editing Siege engine (section)

===Ancient Assyria through the Roman Empire===
{{Further|Roman siege engines}}
[[File:Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III 720-743 BCE from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud).jpg|thumb|upright|Siege engine in Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] 743-720 BC from his palace at Kalhu (Nimrud)]]

The earliest siege engines appear to be simple movable roofed towers used for cover to advance to the defenders' walls in conjunction with [[scaling ladder]]s, depicted during the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]].<ref name="Siege warfare in ancient Egypt">{{cite web |url=https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/siegewarfare.html| title=Siege warfare in ancient Egypt |publisher=Tour Egypt|access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> Advanced siege engines including battering rams were used by [[Assyria]]ns, followed by the catapult in [[ancient Greece]]. 
In [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]] siege towers as well as [[battering rams]] were built from the 8th century BC and employed in Kushite siege warfare, such as the siege of [[Ashmunein]] in 715 BC.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dodson|first=Aidan|date= 1996|title=Monarchs of the nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jsq0AHsC-YMC&q=Kushite+siege+towers&pg=PA178|language=en|volume=1|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |isbn=978-97-74-24600-5}}</ref><ref name="Siege warfare in ancient Egypt"/>
The [[Sparta]]ns used battering rams in the [[Plataea|siege of Plataea]] in 429 BC, but it seems that the Greeks limited their use of siege engines to assault ladders, though Peloponnesian forces used something resembling [[flamethrower]]s.

The first Mediterranean people to use advanced siege machinery were the [[Carthage|Carthaginians]], who used [[siege tower]]s and battering rams against the [[Colonies in antiquity|Greek colonies]] of [[Sicily]]. These engines influenced the ruler of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius I]], who developed a catapult in 399 BC.<ref>"The Catapult: A History", Tracy Rihall, 2007</ref>

The first two rulers to make use of siege engines to a large extent were [[Philip II of Macedonia]] and [[Alexander the Great]]. Their large engines spurred an evolution that led to impressive machines, like the [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius Poliorcetes]]' ''[[Helepolis]]'' (or "Taker of Cities") of 304 BC: nine stories high and plated with iron, it stood {{cvt|40|m|ft}} tall and {{cvt|21|m|ft}} wide, weighing {{cvt|180|t|lb}}. The most used engines were simple battering rams, or ''tortoises'', propelled in several ingenious ways that allowed the attackers to reach the walls or ditches with a certain degree of safety. For sea sieges or battles, seesaw-like machines (''sambykē'' or ''[[Sambuca (siege engine)|sambuca]]'') were used. These were giant ladders, hinged and mounted on a base mechanism and used for transferring marines onto the sea walls of coastal towns. They were normally mounted on two or more ships tied together and some sambuca included shields at the top to protect the climbers from arrows. Other hinged engines were used to catch enemy equipment or even opposing soldiers with opposable appendices which are probably ancestors to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[Corvus (boarding device)|corvus]]. Other weapons dropped heavy weights on opposing soldiers.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

[[File:Roman siege machines.gif|left|thumb|upright|Roman siege engines.]]
The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] preferred to assault enemy walls by building earthen ramps (''agger'') or simply scaling the walls, as in the early siege of the [[Samnium|Samnite]] city of Silvium (306 BC). Soldiers working at the ramps were protected by shelters called ''vineae'', that were arranged to form a long corridor. Convex wicker shields were used to form a screen (''[[wikt:pluteus|plutei]]'' or plute in English)<ref>An obsolete English synonym for "pluteus" is "plute".{{cite OED|plute}}</ref> to protect the front of the corridor during construction of the ramp.<ref name=Cartwright2016>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Siege_Warfare/ |title=Roman Siege Warfare |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=24 June 2016 |access-date=19 January 2018 |encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Another [[Roman siege engine]] sometimes used resembled the Greek ditch-filling tortoise of Diades, this galley (unlike the ram-tortoise of Hegetor the Byzantium) called a ''musculus'' ("muscle") was simply used as cover for sappers to engineer an offensive ditch or earthworks. Battering rams were also widespread. The [[Roman Legion]]s first used siege towers {{circa|200&nbsp;BC}}; in the first century BC, [[Julius Caesar]] accomplished a siege at [[Siege of Uxellodunum|Uxellodunum]] in [[Gaul]] using a ten-story siege tower.<ref name=Cartwright2016 /> Romans were nearly always successful in besieging a city or fort, due to their persistence, the strength of their forces, their tactics, and their siege engines.<ref name=Cartwright2016 />

The first documented occurrence of ancient siege engine pieces in Europe was the ''[[gastraphetes]]'' ("belly-bow"), a kind of large crossbow. These were mounted on wooden frames. Greater machines forced the introduction of pulley system for loading the projectiles, which had extended to include stones also. Later [[torsion siege engine]]s appeared, based on sinew springs. The [[onager (siege weapon)|onager]] was the main Roman invention in the field.
[[File:Guidoriccio mangonel.jpg|thumb|A stone-throwing machine set to defend a gate, in the fresco of ''[[Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the siege of Montemassi|Guidoriccio da Fogliano]]'' by [[Simone Martini]] (14th century).|left]]