09-14-2016, 06:23 PM
I am not a specialist of the Oriental world, but here are some information about sassanid artillery. You may have read that already, of course, and indeed Petersen states than very little is known of persian/sassanid artillery.
Petersen, 2013, Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800 ad)
Chapter about the Sassanids, p. 364.
"Procopius mentions Persian engineers (τεχνῖται) on two occasions, once at *Edessa (544) constructing a siege mound, and then at *Archaeopolis (550), referring obliquely to Persian engineers that would normally construct siege engines. Otherwise we know very little of Persian military engineers. Evidence from the Arab conquests indicates that some aristocrats had particular expertise in siege warfare and probably had staffs of craftsmen and engineers within their households. The competence of Persian engineers is beyond doubt in light of the enormous amount of evidence on engines and siege methods assembled in chapter 5.2, where Roman-Persian warfare provides much of the evidence. In addition, they could draw on the technical expertise from the same sources as the Romans: firstly the civilian population in Mesopotamia (cf. 6.2.3), and secondly, the militarized Armenian nobility."
On the matter of leverage artillery, I think the siege mound that Procopius mentions is to be used by onagers, and not by trebuchets, since among ancient artillery only onagers have a recoil, and thus need siege mounts. That being said, the mounds could be used by trebuchets in order to raise them from the ground a little.
Petersen, 2013, Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800 ad)
Chapter about the Sassanids, p. 364.
"Procopius mentions Persian engineers (τεχνῖται) on two occasions, once at *Edessa (544) constructing a siege mound, and then at *Archaeopolis (550), referring obliquely to Persian engineers that would normally construct siege engines. Otherwise we know very little of Persian military engineers. Evidence from the Arab conquests indicates that some aristocrats had particular expertise in siege warfare and probably had staffs of craftsmen and engineers within their households. The competence of Persian engineers is beyond doubt in light of the enormous amount of evidence on engines and siege methods assembled in chapter 5.2, where Roman-Persian warfare provides much of the evidence. In addition, they could draw on the technical expertise from the same sources as the Romans: firstly the civilian population in Mesopotamia (cf. 6.2.3), and secondly, the militarized Armenian nobility."
On the matter of leverage artillery, I think the siege mound that Procopius mentions is to be used by onagers, and not by trebuchets, since among ancient artillery only onagers have a recoil, and thus need siege mounts. That being said, the mounds could be used by trebuchets in order to raise them from the ground a little.
