Catapult

A catapult is a ballistic device that launches a projectile over a distance using stored mechanical energy from tension, torsion or a spring, rather than gunpowder or another propellant, and it served as an important siege weapon in ancient and medieval warfare. Catapults appear to have been developed independently by several ancient civilizations: the Book of Chronicles credits King Uzziah of Judah with equipping Jerusalem's walls with stone-throwing machines in the 7th century BC, traction-powered catapults called mangonels appeared in China and in India by the 5th century BC, and Greek engineers are documented building torsion catapults by the early 4th century BC, with recorded use at the siege of Motya in 397 BC; the technology later passed to Rome and dominated European siege warfare through the Middle Ages.