4th c. B.C. Archives - Kotsanas Museum

Aeneas cryptographic disc

admino — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:10:53 +0000

It was a disc with 24 holes (one for each letter of the alphabet) on the periphery, one in the centre and one more defining the letter “A”. The sender formed the message by passing a thin thread through the holes of the relevant letters and the receiver read it by removing the thread and noting the letters from right to left.

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The “helepolis” of Epimachus

admino — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:12:15 +0000

It was a giant siege tower of roughly 40 meters in height that was constructed by Epimachus the Athenian and was utilized by Demetrius Poliorcetes in the siege of Rhodes (304 B.C.). It consisted of nine storeys with windows and had
enormous stone-projecting catapults on the lower levels and lighter ones on
the upper. It had two staircases (one for the ascent and one for the descent
of the crew) and one sliding or opening boarding bridge for the mounting of soldiers onto the enemy wall. The machine sat on eight solid wheels fitted onto a mesh undercarriage (“escharion”) with approximately 600 openings for the positioning of an equal amount of men who pushed it towards the enemy wall. The bearings of the wheel axles (“hamaxipous”) were placed on lever turning bases (Castor type) allowing the movement to all directions. The front and side walls were covered with iron sheets and padded rawhide (stuffed with vinegar-soaked straw or green seaweed) in order to neutralize incendiary arrows and to absorb the blow of stones launched by the enemy.
For its propulsion, the machine probably employed reinforcement with: a) a huge manually-operated winch used to pull the rope which was anchored to the ground beneath the front part of the machine (as in the helepolis of Posidonius) and b) a rope system secured to the rear of the undercarriage (“escharion”). After the ropes had gone around the pulleys, which were anchored to the ground (beneath the front part of the machine), they were drawn by pulley-blocks, a hauling crew and draught animals, which were positioned at a safe distance behind it. The helepolis was the evolution of the Macedonian siege towers of Polyidus of Thessaly (for Philip II) and of Diades and Charias (for Alexander) and offered besiegers the possibility to attack enemy walls but also targets in the city behind them from a safe and advantageously higher position.

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The ditch-filling tortoise of Diades

admino — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:09:08 +0000

It was literally an “armoured” vehicle used in sieges for the leveling of ground and the backfilling of defensive ditches for the easier approach of other siege machines. It consisted of a wooden cage on wheels and a hipped roof covering approximately 120 square metres for the protection of the digging and ditch-filling crew. Its exposed walls, like all the other war machines, were covered with iron sheets, fresh wickerwork, clay mixed with hair, and padded rawhide and lambskins (stuffed with vinegar-soaked straw or green seaweed) in order to neutralise incendiary arrows and to absorb the blow of stones launched by the enemy. An ingenious placement system of the axle wheel bearing allowed its forward, sideway and diagonal movement. On another tortoise, the digging tortoise, the front face was vertical to enable better contact with the wall and easier sabotage by the diggers.

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The roofed ram of Diades

admino — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:09:24 +0000

It consisted of a cage on wheels with a fireproof double-pitched roof padded to absorb the blows from enemy missiles (as in the ditch-filling tortoise). It was crowned by a three-storey turret equipped with catapults on the upper level, while the lower levels held reservoirs of water for the extinguishing of possible fires. On its floor, there were ram-holders mounted on supporters (“kriodoche”), i.e., a series of cylindrical rollers upon which the battering ram moved easily with traction ropes on each side. The operators, who were positioned at both sides of the ram, pulled the ropes backwards and forwards, causing the ram to strike the enemy wall with great force. With the fluctuating inclination of the ram-holder, they managed to strike the wall on the desired target. The right side of the model has not been completed for better visual understanding.

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The vaginal speculum (colposcope)

admino — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 10:08:58 +0000

The medical gynecological instrument was invented in the 4th century B.C. and was used to dilate the vagina, enabling the doctor to exam the vagina and cervix or even treat an abscess. It consisted of three plungers that formed a cylindrical tube of variable cross section, which dilated the vagina. The instrument was attached to two modular forceps; the clockwise rotation of a spiry cam handle elevated the two sliding parts of the two plungers (which were hinged on the edge of a moving part resembling a nut and allowed the radial opening of the plungers and, therefore, the dilation of the vagina. at the end of the examination, the plungers closed radially with a counterclockwise rotation of the handle and the tool was removed. The two plungers were often mounted in two sliding parts, and the third plunger was mounted in a ruler. Such a colposcope was found in 1993 during excavations in Dion (on the foothills of Mount Olympus by the Professor Dimitrios Pantermalis and is on display at the local archaeological museum.

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