Abstract
The process of distribution of complex siege weapons in the Late Classical period is under consideration in this article. It is defi ned that to the middle of 1st millennium BC the ancient eastern states had learnt a lot of technical means for storming fortifi ed cities. Greece was the urban civilization of the polis but the methodology of storming fortifi ed cities was developed less here before the beginning of the 4th century BC. They captured the cities with long-term blockade, treachery or unexpected attacks. Sometimes they used simple siege equipment such as assault ladders or battering rams. The siege technology was changed with the activity of the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius the Elder by when was the Carthaginian practice learnt and they started to use siege towers and the fi rst catapults.
In Balkan Greek states in the Late Classical period Dionysius’ innovations for storming fortifi ed cities were not used and catapults usually used as defensive means with the exception of the Phocians by the period of the Third Sacred War and Macedonia by Philip’s II ruling which was the leading center for the development of siege warfare. This tendency related to main principles of Greek polis military organizations which did not allow to siegecraft progress. The hoplite militia was the nuclear of Greek army of the Classical period and their armament approach for storming fortifi ed cities and losses were unwanted in military demographic and political considerations. The organization of polis armies did not allow to have the special military engineers’ troops and provide necessary level of fi nancing. And furthermore, tеhere were role of specifi c hoplite ideology and the critical attitude stratagem and technical tricks to the part of it. The new methodology of storming fortifi ed cities in the Late Classical time had Greek states with a tyrannical regime only and the kingdom of Macedonia. Their military and political system had the opportunity to direct a lot of means to equipment and allowed the use of the armed forces outside of the hoplite practice
Keywords
Classical Greece, Carthage, Macedonia, siegecraft, military organization, catapult, Dionysius the Elder, Philip II.
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