Biton of Pergamon ( gr, Βίτων) was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

writer and engineer, who lived in the second or third century BC. Only two of his works are known: a lost book on

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

, entitled ''Optics'', and an extant short treatise on siege machines, ''Construction of War Machines and Catapults'' ( grc, Κατασκευαὶ πολεμικω̑ν ὄργάνων καὶ καταπαλτικω̑ν).

Simon Hornblower Simon Hornblower, FBA (born 1949) is an English classicist and academic. He is Professor of Classics and Ancient History in the University of Oxford and senior research fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Biography Born in 1949, he was educate ...

, "Biton", in Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (eds.), ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005). The Greek may be transliterated ''Kataskeuai polemikon organon kai katapaltikon''. The military treatise is dedicated to a king named Attalus ( grc, Ἄτταλος), evidently a king of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

, either

Attalus I Attalus I ( grc, Ἄτταλος Α΄), surnamed ''Soter'' ( el, , "Savior"; 269–197 BC) ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis (what is now Bergama, Turkey), first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the fi ...

(241–197) or

Attalus II Attalus II Philadelphus ( Greek: Ἄτταλος Β΄ ὁ Φιλάδελφος, ''Attalos II Philadelphos'', which means "Attalus the brother-loving"; 220–138 BC) was a Greek King of Pergamon and the founder of the city of Attalia (Antal ...

(159–38). Some scholars have suggested, based on internal evidence, that the text should date to 156–55.Francesco Fiorucci, "Biton of Pergamon", in Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion and Andrew Erskine (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of Ancient History'' (Wiley, 2013), pp. 1140–41. His translation of Biton's title is ''Construction of War Engines and Artillery''. Biton describes the construction of four non-torsion

catapults A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...

. The two built by Charon of Magnesia and by Isidoros of Abydos he calls "stone throwers" ('' lithoboloi''), while the two attributed to Zopyrus of Tarentum are termed ''

gastraphetes The gastraphetes ( grc, γαστραφέτης, , belly-releaser), also called belly bow or belly shooter, was a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century AD by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his ...

''. He also describes ''

helepolis Helepolis ( el, ἑλέπολις, meaning: "Taker of Cities") is the Greek name for a movable siege tower. The most famous was that invented by Polyidus of Thessaly, and improved by Demetrius I of Macedon and Epimachus of Athens, for the S ...

'' (siege tower) built by Poseidonios the Macedonian and the ''

sambuca Sambuca () is an Italian anise-flavoured, usually colourless, liqueur. Its most common variety is often referred to as ''white sambuca'' to differentiate it from other varieties that are deep blue (''black sambuca'') or bright red (''red sambuc ...

'' built by Damis of Kolophon, which was a kind of wheeled

scaling ladder {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare ...

. One of the more difficult to understand passages involves a part of the ''sambuca'' called the ''kochlias'', which is either a roller or a screw, mounted horizontally or perhaps vertically. To historians, Biton is valuable as the only ancient witness other than

Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He ...

to mention non-torsion catapults. The lost treatise on optics is known only from Biton's references to it in the military treatise. He says that in his optical work he describes a method for calculating the height of walls, which is necessary in order to calculate the proper dimensions for siege engines attacking those walls.

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