Who invented the first catapult

Posted by Z.Z. at 9:28 AM

Diodorus ascribes the invention of the catapult to Syracuse tyrant Dionysius I in 399 BC, who gathered the artisans in Syracuse of Sicily, so that they construct this advanced weapon. Dionysius gave artisans the highest salary, used to make them lavish gifts and even dine with them. They in response created different types of catapults, made sets of armor and built new types of powerful rowing boats. As early as 397 B.C. Dionysius used the archery from the shore against the ships of Carthage. A new weapon has caused considerable losses and had a big psychological effect on the Carthaginians.
Sometimes there is a presupposition that the first catapult is that depicted on the Assyrian bas-reliefs of the IX. B.C. in Nimrud, but these bas-reliefs show only the slings and bows from the throwing weapons. In the encyclopedic book on Assyria by George Rawlinson «The Seven Great Monarchies of The Ancient Eastern World» an image structure from a bas-relief is illustrated, which according to the author recalls the prototype of catapults, but it is difficult to accept such an interpretation of that image.
Plutarch in his "Maxims" cites exclamation (The Great Hercules! That's the end of military valor) of a man who lived in the era of Alexander of Macedon and the Spartan king Archidamus, done on seeing the arrow from newly invented catapult. This happened in Sicily. Alexander of Macedon himself widely used long-range catapults in his battle campaigns. Perhaps his father, the Macedonian king Philip II, first used catapults in Greece during the siege of Byzantium cities and the cities of Perinf, but even these cities have defended themselves with catapults. According to the ancient list of items in the store of the Athenian arsenal, the ammunition for catapults was in store in around 350 B.C.
Ballista catapults appeared somewhat later. They are first mentioned in the battle campaign of Alexander of Macedon.