Persian Invasion of 480 BC - articles

[Felix]

I also find that a bit odd...some of the metal components used in siege engines like scorpions, ballistae and onagers would almost certainly have to be brought along. It wouldn't be feasible to try and set up some kind of forge in the thick of a siege camp to spend hours if not days to make these components.

Not to mention some of the wooden ones.

I would like to point out that in 1453, the Ottoman Turks found it perfectly feasible to set up forges and fabricate cannon outside the walls of Constantine's city; the cannon that were casted on the spot were too heavy to have been easily brought there if they had been cast elsewhere.

I agree that many prefabricated parts may have existed for certain pieces of equipment in certain armies, i.e. the armies of Trajan. It is not clear to me that the Persians had anything so sophisticated.