The Gastraphetes

[D B Campbell]

I wanted bring the Kingsley source to your attention.

Thanks!

Btw is the dating of Biton fixed to the 3rd or 2nd century BC?

Biton is a very peculiar source. As you said, the dating hinges on his dedication to a certain King Attalus, who must be one of three Pergamene rulers (I, 241-197 BC; II, 160-138 BC; III, 138-133 BC).

All commentators have chosen Attalus I, in order to make Biton as early as possible. But his mention of the sambuca ought not to pre-date the Roman siege of Syracuse (214 BC), when that machine is first seen in action. (See Greek and Roman Siege Machinery, Osprey 2003, pp. 24-33 and plate B for the sambuca.) Of course, we cannot be certain: "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence", after all. But there is a likelihood that the sambuca was newly invented around 214 BC.

In fact, Michael Lewis (Mnemosyne 52, 1999, 159ff.) has made a persuasive case for dating Biton much later, to 156-155 BC, when an emergency at Pergamum made Attalus II grateful for his collection of antiquated machinery.