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Secondary sourceDocument1st century AD (this copy later)

Belopoiika (design drawing of a siege engine)

Hero of Alexandria · 1st century AD (this copy later)

A manuscript drawing from Hero's treatise on artillery, showing the design of a large torsion-powered siege engine.

Preserves Hero's own design for a siege engine, part of his treatise on artillery technology.

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Illuminated manuscript page with colored design drawing of a large siege engine or cannon in red, blue, green and tan, with a vertical arrow-like beam at top, surrounded by Greek text in brown ink on parchment.
Hero of Alexandria, Belopoiika 23: design drawing of a siege engine. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Graec. 2442, fol. 76v.

About this source

What it is

This page comes from a manuscript of Hero of Alexandria's treatise Belopoiika ('Artillery'), showing a colored design drawing of a large siege engine. It is preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

Why it matters

Hero wrote about both playful devices and serious military technology. This drawing shows his engineering skill applied to warfare, revealing how ancient mathematicians and engineers also served practical, sometimes violent, purposes for the states that employed them.

Look closer

  • What details in the drawing help explain how the machine might have worked?
  • Why might a mathematician like Hero have also written about weapons?
  • What does this drawing not show us about how the engine was actually used in battle?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hero of Alexandria on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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