The Hellenistic world was at the forefront of construction when it came to huge war galleys bristling with artillery. Alexander the Great used catapults from his ships when he besieged Tyre in 332BC, and it was the Greeks who built the most formidable floating fortress of the time, the Syracusia. Designed by inventor Archimedes, this huge transport vessel was said to be 55 metres in length. It featured a raised fighting deck that housed a giant catapult capable of switching between firing a five metre dart or a 80 kilogramme stone missile.
