Archaeologists find evidence in Pompeii of an 'automatic' weapon used more than 2,000 years ago

The ruins of Pompeii continue to reshape history, this time shedding light on the military technology of the ancient world. A team from the University of Campania in Italy, led by researcher Adriana Rossi, has identified impact marks on the city’s northern walls caused by a polybolos, a Greek artillery weapon capable of firing multiple projectiles in rapid succession. According to the study, the evidence dates to the Roman siege of 89 B.C., led by General Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

Less than two centuries after that attack, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii under yards of ash and pumice, preserving these marks intact. Until now, the weapon had been regarded as almost mythical, since no physical example had ever been discovered and its existence was known only through classical texts.

The trail of an ancient Greek “machine gun”

Researchers identified clusters of quadrangular cavities arranged at short, regular intervals and following a curved path near the Vesuvian and Herculaneum gates. The shape and spacing of these marks closely match the profile of the projectiles fired by this machine, confirming that they were not caused by any other weapon currently known to archaeologists.

To support their theory, Rossi’s team turned to advanced technology. Using laser scanners and 3D reconstruction techniques, they created high-resolution models of each impact point on the wall.

The polybolos, which literally translates as “multiple launcher,” was invented by Dionysius of Alexandria, a Greek engineer who worked in the weapons workshop of Rhodes in the 3rd century B.C. Its design was remarkably sophisticated for its time. The weapon used a system of gears and a chain mechanism to load darts automatically and fire them in bursts. In practice, it operated much like a modern machine gun that uses a belt-fed ammunition system.

3D reconstruction

Until now, the only evidence of this machine came from the writings of the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium, dating to the 3rd century B.C. Thanks to the Pompeii discovery, archaeologists were able to compare those texts with the impact marks and create a virtual 3D reconstruction that shows exactly what the polybolos looked like and how it worked.

The discovery also opens the door to searching for similar traces in other fortifications from the same era. Archaeologists believe that, now that they know exactly what kind of marks the polybolos leaves on stone, new evidence of this “ancient machine gun” is likely to emerge at other ancient battle sites.

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