Silvia Bertacchi, Verônica Casadei/Heritage
Polybolosa Hellenistic war machine capable of firing multiple projectiles in rapid succession. They are quadrangular and aligned marks.
Quadrangular and aligned marks, identified on the walls of the northern sector of Pompeii, could be the first material proof of the use of a ancient weapon of repetition in a real combat context, according to a recent report published in Heritage magazine.
The investigation suggests that these traces were caused by a polybolos, a Hellenistic war machine capable of firing several projectiles in rapid succession — which is why some researchers compare it, with reservations, to a kind of “machine gun” from Antiquity.
The team, led by Adriana Rossi, from the Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, analyzed visible damage to the walls bombarded during the Roman siege of Pompeii in 89 BC, long before the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed the city in 79 AD
Unlike the large circular cavities already associated with catapult projectiles, the researchers focused on smaller, angular markings grouped in fan patterns, which they consider compatible with repeated dart fire.
To support the hypothesis, the authors resorted to digital surveys made in 2024, metric documentation, photogrammetry and three-dimensional modeling, describes the .
The objective was to compare the shape and distribution of the impacts with ancient descriptions, namely those of Philo of Byzantium, an author from the 3rd century BC who technically described the polybolos.
The study argues that the formal similarity between the ancient text and the remains preserved in the stone reinforces the possibility that this weapon was actually used in the assault on the city.
If the interpretation is confirmed, the discovery could change the understanding of the sophistication of ancient military technology.
Until now, the polybolos it was known primarily through written sources and theoretical reconstructions, without clear physical evidence of its combat use. Pompeii may thus have preserved a rare direct testimony to this military engineering.
