Quote:Well I have some Greek & Roman siege example...
I am flattered that Comerus Gallus has taken the trouble to post the colour plates from my little Siege Machinery book (although the publisher, Osprey, may take a rather dim view of copyright infringement!).
To answer Jona's question: yes, indeed, Dionysius was at the forefront of siege machinery development in the Greek world, having presumably taken inspiration from his Carthaginian foes (who were, themselves, presumably influenced by the Persian ancestry of their Phoenician forebears). Notice the frequent use of the word "presumably", as we cannot be certain about the precise sequence of events.
Diodorus Siculus leads us to believe that Dionysius assembled craftsmen from all over the Mediterranean ca. 399 BC, and equipped himself with siege towers, battering rams, and "catapults" (at this stage, in my opinion, this was the gastraphetes, or bow-machine, rather than the fully-fledged torsion catapult).
No Greek (as far as we know) had used siege machines in a systematic manner prior to this event. Thucydides mentions a flame-throwing machine on two occasions, but it was a very rudimentary contraption which was, of course, effective only against wooden fortifications (such as the temporary defences at Delium in 424 BC). It is never heard of again, in Greek and Roman warfare. Equally, the Spartans, in a stroke of ingenuity, utilised battering rams at Plataea in 429 BC, but they were entirely unsuccessful, and do not appear ever to try anything like that again.
I have looked into the use of the term "mêchanêmata" (= machinery), and it is often used (e.g., by the technical writer Philon) to indicate large-scale wheeled contraptions, whereas the simple "mêchanê" (= machine) could be anything from a set of ladders to a catapult.
In the case which Jona highlights, I would be inclined to see the "mêchanêma" as some kind of wheeled tower; Dionysius had introduced these for his siege of Motya in 396 BC. Dionysius was forced to starve the town of Rhegium into surrender, after his assaults failed -- perhaps this was the reason.
The story recalls a later one told about the tyrant Agathocles, who (in 307 BC) nailed prisoners to the sides of a mêchanêma at Utica to horrify and discourage the defenders in the town (Diod. Sic. 20.54.2-7) -- again, surely a siege tower of some description.
Well, that's my threepence-worth ...