Article ID: CBB669736606

The Archimedean ‘sambukē’ of Damis in Biton (2022)

unapi

Biton’s Construction of Machines of War and Catapults describes six machines by five engineers or inventors; the fourth machine is a rolling elevatable scaling ladder, named sambukē, designed by one Damis of Kolophōn. The first sambukē was invented by Herakleides of Taras, in 214 BCE, for the Roman siege of Syracuse. Biton is often dismissed as incomprehensible or preposterous. I here argue that the account of Damis’ device is largely coherent and shows that Biton understood that Damis had built a machine that embodied Archimedean principles. The machine embodies three such principles: (1) the proportionate balancing of the torques on a lever (from Plane Equilibria, an early work); (2) the concept of specific gravity or density (from Floating Bodies, a late work); and (3) the κοχλίας, i.e., a worm drive (invented ca 240 BCE), with the toothed wheel functioning as the horizontal axis of rotation of the elevated ladder. Moreover, the stone-thrower of Isidoros of Abydos (the second machine in Biton) also embodies the κοχλίας.

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Authors & Contributors
Saito, Ken
Netz, Reviel
Davide Pietrini
Chris Rorres
Giannini, Giulia
Wintjes, Jorit
Concepts
Mathematics
Technology
Geometry
Machines
Trebuchets and catapults
Physics
Time Periods
Ancient
Modern
Renaissance
Early modern
Medieval
21st century
Places
Greece
Europe
Rome (Italy)
Sicily
North America
Japan
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