5 Amazing Weapons of the Ancient World

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http://madefrom.com/history/antiquity/am...ent-world/

EXCERPT: Most weapons that were used by classical or ancient civilisations will be familiar to us. For example, the Romans’ principal arms included their versions of daggers, short swords, spears and bows. Here, however, we will focus on some of the lesser-known weapons of war. These arms highlight the creativity, ingenuity and sometimes-horrific imaginations of the designers of ancient war machines....

1. Archimedes’ Heat Ray

2. The Claw of Archimedes

3. Steam Cannon

4. Repeating Crossbow (Chu-ko-nu)

5. Greek Fire

[Yazata]

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.

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.

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

[Yazata]

Another cool ancient/medieval weapon is a large counterweight trebuchet. They are pivoted arms, with a heavy weight on one side of the pivot, and a long arm with a sling on the other. Gravity pulls down the weight and the long arm rotates rapidly, throwing what's in the sling. If you've ever watched punkin chuckin' on Sci channel or Discovery, you've seen some impressive ones in action. They can throw an 8-10 pound pumpkin half a mile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet

Apparently old-style 'traction' trebuchets existed in ancient times, both in the West and in China. Ancient trebuchets were smaller than the medieval ones and were powered by soldiers pulling on one side of the pivot to rotate it. These ancient trebuchets could throw heavy weights 100 to 200 feet. The really huge gravity-powered models seem to have originated during the Crusades. They remained state-of-the-art until gunpowder powered cannons gradually replaced them. The largest currently existing trebuchet is at Warwick Castle in England, built to a Danish design. It weighs 22 tons, is 59 feet tall and can throw 80 pound missiles 1000 feet.

They are still occasionally being used in combat. Reportedly one was seen being employed by Syrian rebels against Syrian government troops in Aleppo recently. Another was used to throw Molotov cocktails in the Ukrainian street rioting that brought down the previous regime of that country.