Sambuca (Siege Engine)

The sambuca is a naval siege engine described by the Greek historian Polybius as used by the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus during his siege of Syracuse in 213 BCE, formed by lashing pairs of ships together and mounting a hinged scaling ladder or platform on the joined hulls that could be raised against the city's harbor walls to let troops climb directly from the ships onto the fortifications. Polybius records that the device took its name from its resemblance to the sambuca, a triangular ancient stringed instrument, because of the angled shape the raised ladder formed against its supporting frame. The Syracuse assault is best remembered for the defense mounted by Archimedes, whose engineered devices, including grappling cranes and long-range artillery, are credited with destroying or disabling several of the Roman sambucae and forcing Marcellus to abandon his direct seaborne assault in favor of a prolonged blockade.