What is Catapult?
[[File:Replica catapult.jpg|thumb|right|300px]] [[File:Ancient Roman catapult - Discours de la religion des anciens Romains (1581) (14763485952) (enhanced).jpg|thumb|Drawing of Roman Catapult, 1581]] A '''catapult''' is a type of [[machine]] used as a [[weapon]] to throw [[mineral|rocks]], large arrows, or other things such as hot tar, that would cause damage to something else.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hacker |first1=Barton C. |title=Greek Catapults and Catapult Technology: Science, Technology, and War in the Ancient World |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_technology-and-culture_1968-01_9_1/page/34 |journal=Technology and Culture |date=January 1968 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=34–50 |doi=10.2307/3102042 |jstor=3102042 |s2cid=112617914 |accessdate=6 July 2019}}</ref> Often, catapults were set on higher ground or on [[castle]] towers to let them shoot farther. They shot rocks to break [[castle]] walls, or [[pitch]] or hot [[tar]] to set the target on [[fire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Catapults |url=http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/catapults.htm |website=www.lordsandladies.org |accessdate=6 July 2019 |archive-date=24 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924235615/http://middle-ages.org.uk/catapults.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Catapults use weights and [[lever]]s to send the rocks or other things into the air.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saimre |first1=Tanel |title=Trebuchet: A Gravity Operated Siege Engine |journal=Estonian Journal of Archaeology |year=2006 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=61–80 |doi=10.3176/arch.2006.1.03 |s2cid=160430733 |url=http://www.kirj.ee/public/va-arh/arch-2006-1-3.pdf |accessdate=6 July 2019}}</ref> They do not throw as far as [[modern]] weapons do, and are not useful in modern [[warfare]]. Catapults were common in the past, especially the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Janin |first1=Hunt |last2=Carlson |first2=Ursula |title=Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4766-1207-2 |page=41|publisher=McFarland }}</ref> Nowadays catapults