Polybolos

The polybolos (the name means "multi-thrower" in Greek^[1]) was an ancient Greek repeating ballista, reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria (a 3rd-century BC Greek engineer at the Rhodes arsenal,^[2]^[3]) and used in antiquity. The polybolo was not a crossbow since it used a torsion mechanism, drawing its power from twisted sinew-bundles.^[4]

Philo of Byzantium (c. 280 BC – c. 220 BC) encountered and described a weapon similar to the polybolos, a catapult that could fire again and again without a need for manual reloading.^[5] Philo left a detailed description of the gears that powered its chain drive (the oldest known application of such a mechanism^[2]) and that placed bolt after bolt into its firing slot.^{[citation needed]}

^ Prenderghast, Gerald (March 2018). Repeating and Multi-Fire Weapons: A History from the Zhuge Crossbow Through the AK-47. McFarland. p. 14. ISBN 978-1476666662.
^ ^a ^b Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley (March 1979). "Ancient Catapults". Scientific American. 240 (3): 124–125. Bibcode:1979SciAm.240c.150S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0379-150. Archived from the original on 2019-05-20.
^ Alan Wilkins (2003). Roman Artillery. Osprey Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7478-0575-5.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Needham 1994, p. 172-173.
^ Philo of Byzantium, "Belopoeica", 73.34

[1] Prenderghast, Gerald (March 2018). Repeating and Multi-Fire Weapons: A History from the Zhuge Crossbow Through the AK-47. McFarland. p. 14. ISBN 978-1476666662.

[Soedel_&_Foley-2] Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley (March 1979). "Ancient Catapults". Scientific American. 240 (3): 124–125. Bibcode:1979SciAm.240c.150S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0379-150. Archived from the original on 2019-05-20.

[3] Alan Wilkins (2003). Roman Artillery. Osprey Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7478-0575-5.^{[permanent dead link]}

[FOOTNOTENeedham1994172-173-4] Needham 1994, p. 172-173.

[5] Philo of Byzantium, "Belopoeica", 73.34

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