Quote:1. Archimedes’ Heat Ray
The Myth-Busters tested this one in their memorable 'Ancient Greek Death Ray' episode. (Barack Obama made a cameo appearance.) Unfortunately, Adam and Jamie busted it. It doesn't work, certainly not with the bronze mirrors that the ancients had. I wish that it was true, because the idea of an ancient Greek death ray is something that I want to believe.
Quote:4. Repeating Crossbow (Chu-ko-nu)
Once again, the Myth-Busters tested an ancient Roman model of an archery machine gun, a repeating crossbow that fired arrows. This time it worked and they ruled it 'plausible'. Their version had suitable accuracy and even had a faster rate of fire than was specified in the ancient sources.
But it was big, cumbersome, complex and had an annoying tendency to jam. So it probably wasn't very practical back in the day.
Quote:5. Greek Fire
This one is indisputably real. The Byzantines used Greek Fire to win several naval engagements with the earliest Muslims. Unfortunately, nobody today knows what Greek Fire was. The best guess is that it was some kind of incendary material heaved at enemy ships with siege catapults. Ancient napalm in other words. The Bosphorus at Constantinople is a narrow waterway where shore-based catapults would have been effective.
Another cool ancient weapon was the classic ancient warship, a big trireme with three rows of oarsmen and a big metal ram in the front. These things could move very fast and could maneuver quickly. They typically fought by ramming holes in enemy ships, but they also carried marine boarding parties that could leap onto enemy ships for hand-to-hand combat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trireme
The ancient phalanx was cool too. The phalanx wasn't a weapon, it was a then-state-of-the-art tactic. A square of soldiers trained to march without breaking ranks, so that each man's shield protected him and the man next to him, collectively presenting a continuous shield-wall to the enemy. They could crouch down behind their shields and be pretty well protected from arrows. As long as nobody broke ranks and men who fell were quickly replaced by reserves from inside the square, the phalanx was almost invincible on the ancient battlefield. It was like a walking fortress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx