07-26-2007, 04:35 PM
Quote:... there is at least one account from the ancient world of women in a besieged town donating their hair so that it could be spun into cord to use for catupult springs ...You're right, Crispvs -- there are several examples.
The one that "springs" to mind (sorry :oops: ) is Caesar, BCiv. 3.9: in 48 BC, the inhabitants of Salonae, besieged by Pompey's general M. Octavius, "equipped their catapults by cutting off the hair of all the women" (praesectis omnium mulierum crinibus tormenta effecerunt).
The "technical" authors (Heron, Vitruvius) prefer sinew rope for the springs, but they indicate that rope made of hair ("particularly women's"; Vitr., De arch. 10.11.2) could be used (e.g. Veg., Mil. 4.9). In the 1900s, Schramm was unable to manufacture sinew cord, so he sprung his catapults with horsehair rope.
