This drawbridge acted as a gangway which soldiers could use to cross over from either a siege tower or ship. This included a grappling machine, designed for pulling down defences, and a much-improved drawbridge called an epibathra. The beam was placed inside a mobile wooden shield called a Chelone, or ‘tortoise.’ Further inventionsĪlongside the borer, Diades invented many other formidable siege engines. Diades not only increased the borer’s power, but also its protection. ![]() So, when the mechanics pulled the ropes, it would exert a powerful force on the ram and cause a large breach in the wall. It would be attached with ropes that were connected to pulleys and winches. Like the ram, Diades’ borer consisted of a wooden beam with a metal head. Yet it was he who radically improved its design. Designed to ram down a settlement’s walls, simple borers had been in existence before Diades. Arguably one of the greatest was the trupanon, the borer. The Borerĭiades would create several new siege machines during Alexander’s reign. It would be his siege developments that would be pivotal to some of Alexander’s greatest military feats. A resident of Pella, Diades had been a student of Polyidus and succeeded him as chief engineer at the time of Alexander’s accession. Just as Polyidus was for Philip, one engineer was more crucial than any other to the evolution of siege machinery during Alexander’s famous campaign. Yet to conquer more formidable defences – dotted throughout Persia’s vast empire – Alexander required more complex, awe-inspiring engines.įollowing in the footsteps of Philip and Polyidus, he was sure to further develop machinery throughout his reign – developments that would be key to some of his greatest military triumphs. Ladders remained the most cost-effective way to capture a settlement and we know Alexander succeeded in taking many smaller towns with such equipment. The Macedonian Torsion Catapult: Polyidus’ most famous invention. ![]() Just as his father had before him, Alexander quickly embraced the great potential of siege warfare for his campaign. Siege machineryĪrguably the element of the Macedonian army that evolved the most during this period was his siege machinery. Alexander’s 9-year long conquest of Persia and India was no exception. War has always been the catalyst for the rapid development of methods of warfare. This is the story of the evolution and reorganisation of the Macedonian army during the reign and conquest of Philip’s son, Alexander the Great. In his lifetime he had completely overhauled the Macedonian army, transforming it into the greatest force the Hellenic World had yet seen. 336 BC and Philip II of Macedon is dead, assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
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