The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery

Average customer rating:

Way too simple, but OK for kids

Definitely not worth the money.

Perhaps he should name it....Catapults for Kids.

More fun!

Amusing catapults, interesting history, but no metric units

The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery
William Gurstelle
Manufacturer: Chicago Review Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1556525265

Book Description

Whether playing at defending their own castle or simply chucking pumpkins over a fence, wannabe marauders and tinkerers will become fast acquainted with Ludgar, the War Wolf, Ill Neighbor, Cabulus, and the Wild Donkey—ancient artillery devices known commonly as catapults. Building these simple yet sophisticated machines introduces fundamentals of math and physics using levers, force, torsion, tension, and traction. Instructions and diagrams illustrate how to build seven authentic working model catapults, including an early Greek ballista, a Roman onager, and the apex of catapult technology, the English trebuchet. Additional projects include learning how to lash and make rope and how to construct and use a hand sling and a staff sling. The colorful history of siege warfare is explored through the stories of Alexander the Great and his battle of Tyre; Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Third Crusade; pirate-turned-soldier John Crabbe and his ship-mounted catapults; and Edward I of England and his battle against the Scots at Stirling Castle.

Customer Reviews:

Way too simple, but OK for kids.......2007-06-29

I find this book to be very superficial when it comes to the real deal. If you're looking for a book on catapults, you're going to get disappointed. This book focuses om making simple small scale models of catapults. I suppose it's great for a weekend project with your wannabe engineer kids, but if you're really interested in pre gunpowder siege warfare, you should rather take a look at Konstantin Nossov's book on siege warfare, which is a really thourough work. Also note that there aren't any metric units for the models, which complicates construction for the common european.

Definitely not worth the money........2007-04-17

I was really dissappointed with this book. Several of the projects are ridiculous, and he didn't do enough research. A few quick searches of the internet reveal that he gets a lot of historical facts wrong.

His first two projects, have nothing to do with anything related to actual catapults. The first is two sticks tied together, and the second is the equivalent of a waterbaloon slingshot. He calls it the "Viking Catapult". Of the ten projects in this book, three of them are modeled on actual historical types of catapults. Two are sub projects, that just show you how to build parts of the catapults, and the other five are things a child could design on thier own. As the one of the other reviewers pointed out, the last project is a plastic spoon catapult game. Small children do this on their own.

Do your self a favor, and download some free plans off the internet.

Perhaps he should name it....Catapults for Kids........2007-01-10

I was disappointed in this book. I was expecting some historically accurate designs and what I received was overly simplified plans presumably designed mostly for children. Yes, most of the text is related to the history of these weapons, but the plans left something to be desired. The ballista plan suggests use of a peanut as ammunition (not a bolt?) and the catch mechanism is nonexistent. The last project is a plastic-spoon-based basketball game. Enough said?

More fun!.......2006-11-10

This is a great book - got a copy for my brother for Christmas, and after taking a look had to get my own copy. I've been wanting to build a trebuchet ever since I saw one as a teenager - here are the plans!

Amusing catapults, interesting history, but no metric units.......2005-07-20

This book contains easy-to-follow instructions on how to build different catapults. Unfortunately there is no data regarding approx. distance and height for the suggested projectiles, why you must try for yourself. All units are english/american, which means you must translate this to metric units if you are more used to that.
A lot of historic background around catapults in general and around each model is given, which makes the book very interesting to read, even if you do not plan to build any of the models.
I can recommend this book to both historically interrested people and those who are more fond of making amusing toys!

Handbook of Ancient Water Technology (Technology and Change in History)

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Handbook of Ancient Water Technology (Technology and Change in History)

Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Ancient & Classical | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 9004111239

Average customer rating:

Can only get it from amazon.UK
Time-sensitive material (i.e., promotional tours, seminars,

Greek Style (Style Book Series)
Suzanne Slesin , Stafford Cliff , and Daniel Rozensztroch
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0500235260

Customer Reviews:

Can only get it from amazon.UK.......2002-12-25

This is an excellent book on greek style. It is considered a classic and fully captures the essence of the country. The book is full of pictures and a great addition for your collection or to give as a gift. It has been also recommended by To Vima book reviews as one of the best books on greek style. The only option for order is through amazon.uk where I have been ordering copies for the last 2 years since the us site has never had it available!

Time-sensitive material (i.e., promotional tours, seminars,.......1999-07-09

Me parece muy interesante todas las colecciones que Uds. posee

Greek and Roman Fashions (Dover Pictorial Archives)

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we love these books!!

Greek and Roman Fashions (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Tom Tierney
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Textile & Costume | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0486415473

Book Description

Rich assortment of clothing styles — from garments worn by the nobility of Crete (2000–1200 BC) to the apparel of a Roman senator and his family in the late Imperial Period (300–487 AD). Also includes colorable portraits of Greek peasants, Etruscan dancers, Roman gladiators wearing metal shoulder plates and chain mail, more.

Customer Reviews:

we love these books!!.......2007-02-22

i homeschool and my daughter and i find these books a very useful and fun way of studying history. she also enjoys fashion design and it is very interesting to see how fashions have changed through the centuries. hours of relaxing fun-not just for the kids!!

Greek Colonisation: An Account Of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas: Volume 1 (Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

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Greek Colonisation: An Account Of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas: Volume 1 (Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004122044

Book Description

The 2-volume handbook is dedicated to one of the most significant processes in the history of ancient Greece - colonisation. Greeks set up colonies and other settlements in new environments, establishing themselves in lands stretching from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to North Africa in the south and the Black Sea in the north east. In this colonial world Greek and local structures met, influenced and enriched each other. The handbook brings together historians and archaeologists, all world experts, to present the latest ideas and evidence. The principal aim is to present and update the general picture of this phenomenon, showing its importance in the history of the whole ancient world, including the Near East. The work is dedicated to Prof. A.J. Graham.

Book Description

The neokoroi, or 'temple-wardens,' were Hellenized cities of the eastern Roman empire who received that title for possessing their provinces' temples to the living emperor. This work collects and analyzes all the evidence for the neokoroi, including their coins and inscriptions, contemporary and subsequent historical texts, and the archaeological remains of the temples themselves and the statues that stood within them. There were at least thirty-seven neokoroi, and each is examined in a separate chapter. The results are then re-analyzed chronologically, clarifying the development of the institution. Finally the statues, temples, cities, and provinces are compared, resulting in new insights into the rivalry and hierarchy among the cities, and the dialogue of worship that related them to their Roman overlords.

Greek and Roman Naval Warfare; A Study of Strategy, Tactics, and Ship Design from Salamis (480 B.C. to Actium)

Average customer rating:

Masterful Work More Relevant Than Ever
Bad Georgaphy
Good Book for the Basics of Ancient Med. naval Warfare...
A study on how to falsify history
A must for any serious historical library!

Greek and Roman Naval Warfare; A Study of Strategy, Tactics, and Ship Design from Salamis (480 B.C. to Actium)
William Ledyard Rodgers
Manufacturer: Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0870212265

Customer Reviews:

Masterful Work More Relevant Than Ever.......2007-01-13

Written in the looming shadow of world war, this amazing work is if anything more relevant today than it was in 1937. This is so because the United States today depends to an ever-increasing degree on the ocean transport of vital energy supplies and manufactured goods. It is thus no accident that the U.S. has the world's largest navy, by far, one that makes its presence felt around the globe. Author Rodgers in this amazing work links sea power to national power and brings the naval campaigns of Greece and Rome into sharp focus, at all levels, from the grand strategical down to the individual oarsman. This book is a must for any affectionado of naval history. **

Bad Georgaphy.......2003-01-03

An interesting book when it comes to sailing, although the author has no knowledge of the sea and the terrain of Ancient Greece and Italy. Avoid it if you are interested in naval history and naval warfare. Living in these lands makes this book look like an anti Greek propaganda.

Good Book for the Basics of Ancient Med. naval Warfare..........2002-03-15

It has it's limitations in that it almost entirely relies upon ancient sources for it's conclusions, and not much on Archaeology or [obviously] modern scholarship.

It's age is one of it's virtues, however. It was written at a time when Classical scholarship was much less specialized and narrow, and allowed for a more general and sweeping overview of a fascinating and immensely important subject.

I disagree with one reviewer's complaints about Rodgers' criticism of Herodotus. He was, in many ways, a purveyor of legends and fanciful tall tales. Especially when you compare his historical skills to the great Greek historians who came later such as Thyucidides and Polybius. And thank God for Both Thyucidides and Polybius. Especially Thyucidides who is our most reliable ancient source for Classical Greek naval tactics. [Along with Xenophon].

And without Polybius, we would have almost no reliable record [other than the often suspect Diodorus]of the very overlooked, but immensely important and history changing First Punic War. Arguably, the First Punic War was the most important war in Western history because, as a result of it's occurrnce, Rome became the most powerful naval power in the Mediterranean by defeating one of the most powerful Hellenistic naval powers of the time, Carthage, on it's own turf. Thus, setting the stage for all of Rome's future expansion.

This is a great book to start with, if you are interested in Ancient Mediterranean naval warfare. And it's written by a person in a position to know and understand the practicalities of what the ancient sources have reported. Another lost tradition of modern scholarship. It's better to have a well-written and reserached general overview of ancient naval warfare written by an Admiral, than it is, sometimes, to have a narrow treatise written by an academic sitting in a dusty cubicle.

At least that's my opinion.

A study on how to falsify history.......2002-01-30

Calling Herodotus, the father of history, "inaccurate" and "a person who wrote tales" is considered among the historians of any time equal to blasphemy. Altering historical facts, and creating conclusions based upon imagination and modern standards is not only a crime against the memory of the ancient Greeks but also a crime against humanity. Never before have I read a book written about ancient Greece, that is so much against anything Greek. It is for sure the first time that I read that Leonidas, the 300 Spartans and the 2,000 Greeks who were sacrificed for preserving the democracy and freedom of ancient Europe in Thermopiles, where just a few cowards that withdrew in the face of the enemy surrounding them. It is crazy even to consider that the same soldiers who were fighting for six (and not two as the author states) days against 500,000 soldiers got scared and betrayed their fellow fighters and fled living the back of the Spartans open.
The strategic conclusions made on this book are completely inaccurate, since the author never visited neither Greece nor Rome. Reading the book up to page 106 when the Persian wars were concluded the author does not manage to make a single correct remark as he is totally ignorant of Greek geography and morphology, and most of all Greek way of leaving and thinking.
I was never before so disappointed from buying a book as much as I did when I bought and tried to read: Greek and Roman Naval Warfare; A Study of Strategy, Tactics, and Ship Design from Salamis (480 B.C. to Actium) by William Ledyard Rodgers

A must for any serious historical library!.......2001-10-12

If you can buy no other book on the subject, buy this. I have a shelf-load of others, but this is the key. Control of the seas was often a core policy to the Mediterranean nations. How they fought or could fight at sea determined the course of history.
Adm. Rodgers writes in the non-fiction style of the early 20th century: no gobbledegook, no unnecessary jargon, no convolutions just to look impressive. Neither does he feel he has to be boring to be scholarly.
The book is completely accessible to a beginner who is willing to look up the basics of ship terminology, and not much of that. Yet the subjects glide into such depth, in areas glossed over by most other writers, that even the long-term aficionado will find new information. You will keep it handy for its many technical references. As well, the old-timer may find that Rodger's cogent arguments explode many common myths about the ancient ships found in scores of other "authoritative" books.
Coming from the time he did, Rodgers had access to information that seems to have been lost from being ignored by motor-sailors. This includes the energy output of a rower and a familiarity with the standard speeds of rowed and wind-powered traditional vessels. As a result, his analyses of the ancient texts has both depth and practicality. He is not guessing at figures or building triremes in the clouds.
On top of this, Rodgers was simply brilliant in his visualizations of ancient sea fights. His unpacking of the Roman propaganda about the Egyptian fleet at Actium is alone worth the price of the book.
Be sure to get his follow-up, Medieval Warfare Under Oars. If you would like a similar suddenly-real analysis of many land battles and armies, try Hans Delbruck's History of the Art of War (4 volumes). That one is not beginner-accessible, but once you have the basics you will enjoy it.

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De Chirico and the Mediterranean
Jole de Sanna
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

The Greek-born Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) was a master of metaphysical painting. His fusion of fantastic and dream imagery with object from everyday experience creates a surreal, sometimes disturbing landscape. This fully illustrated catalogue, published on the occasion of an important exhibition in Italy, presents de Chirico's work in relation to the world and myths of classical antiquity.

In 1919 in Rome, de Chirico discovered a neoclassical calling that appears in his subsequent work in his use of perspective, statuary and other objects, and classical characters. This scholarly work discusses de Chirico's neoclassical aesthetic as it contributes to his original metaphysical philosophy.

Ways into the Logic of Alexander of Aphrodisias (Philosophia Antiqua)

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Ways into the Logic of Alexander of Aphrodisias (Philosophia Antiqua)
Kevin L. Flannery
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004099980

Book Description

Ways into the Logic of Alexander of Aphrodisias is intended to give an overview of the logic of Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. early 3rd century A.D.). Since much of what might be called Alexander's logic is simply Aristotelian logic, instead of engaging in point-by-point analysis, it takes up three themes, one from each of the main areas of traditional logic: the assertoric syllogistic, the modal syllogistic, and the area of metalogical concerns. It provides insight not only into Aristotle's logical writings themselves but also into the tradition of scholarship which they spawned: the ideas and analyses of such figures as Theophrastus of Eresus, John Philoponus and (more recently) Jan Lukasiewicz.

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Alexander 'Greek' Thomson
Gavin Stamp
Manufacturer: Laurence King
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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