Polybolos: The World’s First Machine Gun Built by the Ancient Greeks

A modern reconstruction of the repeating “polybolos” catapult of Dionysius of Alexandria successful Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Athens, Greece. Credit: flickr / SBA73 CC BY-SA 2.0

The past Greek instrumentality gun, the polybolos, is 1 of the astir fascinating warfare inventions successful antiquity, shooting and reloading aggregate bolts.

The Greek word “polybolos” (Greek: πoλύβολος) translates to “firing many shots.” In actuality, the weapon was a variant of the ballista, which was allegedly created in the third century BC by Dionysius of Alexandria, the Greek engineer who worked at the Rhodes arsenal.

Greek technologist and physicist Philo of Byzantium (c. 280 BC – c. 220 BC) near a elaborate statement of the past Greek instrumentality gun. The polybolos possessed gears that powered its chain drive, the oldest known exertion of specified a mechanism, which placed bolt aft bolt into its firing slot. It was the astir analyzable limb strategy of its time, a good illustration of ancient Greek technology.

The mechanics of the past Greek instrumentality gun

The mechanism is distinct in that a flat-link chain attached to a windlass powers it. The limb was capable to automatically sprout a bid of bolts stored successful a woody mag stored implicit the bolt lawsuit that could clasp upwards of 15 bolts astatine a time. A mechanics allowed the idiosyncratic to reload and tighten the chord with the assistance of a cogwheel and chain. The polybolos could repetitively occurrence shots without the idiosyncratic having to manually agelong the chord to the changeable position.

The cylinder table was moved forward to the bow string when a fresh bolt was loaded by rotating the windlass counter-clockwise while the trigger claw was elevated. A metal lug then pressed the trigger beneath the trigger claw. The thread was covered by the closed claw. The cylinder table and bow string were drawn back when the windlass was turned clockwise after the string had been locked into the trigger mechanism.

As the magazine was pulled to the rear of the polybolos, a circular wooden pole in the bottom rotated downward into the cylinder table, dropping a single bolt into the tray, ready to fire. Another lug, similar to the one that secured the string in place, was encountered as the cylinder table was drawn further back. The ancient Greek machine gun’s rhythm is repeated when that lug presses the trigger, automatically firing the polybolos.

Given the weapon’s approximate archetypal known appearance, the ancient Greek machine gun is a stunning invention successful presumption of European technology. To cause the trigger to catch and then release the bowstring, advanced mechanisms were employed.

Evidence of polybolos usage successful Pompeii?

Markings found on Pompeii‘s walls by Italian experts may be the earliest indication of polybolos use.

In a new study published in the Nexus Network Journal, researchers, led by Adriana Rossi of the University of Campania, discovered and examined tiny holes in the stones in the vicinity of the gates of Vesuvius and Herculaneum on the northern wall of Pompeii.

As though the missiles that generated the markings had been fired in bursts, they show up in clusters of four or five. With handheld weapons or conventional crossbows, this would person been challenging to accomplish. It is unlikely that the square or diamond-shaped markings would resemble the impact patterns of stones fired by traditional catapults. Rather, they seem to have been produced by metal projectiles or arrows.

The researchers claim that because the marks are consistent and aligned, a repeating machine was utilized. According to the experts, these might have been created by a polybolos that was employed when the Roman General Sulla successfully besieged Pompeii in 89 BC. The symbols on the walls would fit the historical description of the ancient Greek machine gun despite no physical traces having been discovered.