The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients
Downloadable E-book in PDF format.
This is one of the most important books in the history of hurling. Written by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey in 1907, it's the first serious work on the ancient catapults to be written in modern times.
In this book, Sir Ralph explores the ancient writings of sieges and their artillery. Not content to take the writings at face value, he endeavors to assign credibility to the writer, then he goes on to produce his own working versions of the ancient machines, to test the principles and the claims of the ancient writers.
The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients is essentially an update of a previous work of his. "The Crossbow", written by Gallwey and published in 1901, contained a section at the end of the book titled "A Treatise on the Siege Engines used in Ancient and Medieval times for discharging great Stones and Arrows." That work was seriously flawed, and after receiving many letters about it, Gallwey updated and corrected much of the work. This book is the result of that effort.
By special arrangement, we are able to offer this book in electronic PDF format at a great low price.
The original book is out of print and extremely rare. Reprints can sometimes be found at prices ranging from $70 to $150 and more. We've taken great care to preserve the original look and layout of the book, including the peculiar spellings, fonts, spacings and plate markers used at the time.
Containing forty-four pages with over 22 illustrations, the book gives details about the design, construction and operation of the three fundamental types of siege engines- the Catapult (also known as the Mangonel or Onager), the Ballista and the Trebuchet, as well as the history and effects of such weapons.
