Polybolos (repeating catapult)
Polibolo (catapulta de repetición)
- Date
- c. century III a.C. · confidence low
- Place
- Alexandria, Egypt
- Credited to
- Dionysius of Alexandria
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A torsion engine that fired bolts continuously by means of an endless chain driven by a windlass and a magazine feeding each bolt. It is the oldest mechanical repeating design of the Greco-Roman world.
It is known only from the descriptions of Philo of Byzantium and Hero; no specimen has been found and there is no proof it was used in combat. Modern reconstructions have confirmed the mechanism is workable.
What it led to
- magazine and automatic-feed concepts
- the Roman carroballista
- chain mechanisms in other machines