helepolis

Englisch - Englisch

Definition von helepolis im Englisch Englisch wörterbuch

an ancient Greek siege engine consisting of a wheeled tower containing machines for throwing stones and spears

Helepolis (, lit. Taker of Cities) was an ancient siege engine invented by Demetrius I of Macedon and constructed by Epimachus of Athens for the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, based on an earlier, less massive design used against Salamis (305–304 BC). Descriptions of it were written by Dioeclides of Abdera, Vitruvius, Plutarch, and in the Athenaeus Mechanicus. If their numbers are accurate, it was the biggest and most powerful siege tower ever erected

Etymologie

() From Ancient Greek ἑλέπολις (“taker of cities”).