It was completely dependent on the position of the sun and a utter lack of cloud cover, and could only function on a completely stationary target due to the time required for it to achieve ignition.Įven if it succeeded, at best it could create small, easily extinguishable fires.
siege of Syracuse, attempted recreations conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others concluded that the weapon was almost ridiculously impractical. Though some ancient historians record that such a weapon was used during the 212 B.C. Most Roman ships of the era were coated with pitch as a sealant, which would only make the target more flammable. A strategically placed series of mirrors would focus the sun's rays onto a single point on an enemy ship and ignite it, like a magnifying glass used to ignite paper. A team working for the Discovery Channel recreated the device using technology that would have been available at the time and used it to capsize a replica of a Roman galley, proving that the device could have been effective.Īnother of Archimedes inventions-far more controversial and shrouded in mystery-is a form of heat ray designed to set enemy ships on fire. The Roman historian Livy contended that the Roman fleet suffered terrible casualties from this device.
When released, the ship would capsize or at least be dropped violently back into the water, damaging the vessel and throwing crewmen overboard. As Roman ships approached the wall, it would be deployed over them, snagging them with the hook, and then lifting the ship at least partially out of the water. Though the exact design of the Claw of Archimedes is not known, it is believed to have been a large crane fitted with a gigantic grappling hook. This included improved versions of conventional artillery like catapults and ballistas, but he also designed more exotic devices to defend Syracuse's seawall from attacking Roman ships during the Second Punic War.
Archimedes, the famed Greek mathematician and inventor, developed a variety of weapons to aid in the defense of his home city of Syracuse, Sicily.
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