Long before machine guns, ancient Romans used this rapid-fire weapon

Smithsonian magazine highlighted the work of a University of Cincinnati professor who supervised archaeological research in the ancient city of Pompeii.

UC Classics Professor Steven Ellis was co-director of a research project that examined a neighborhood of Pompeii called Porta Stabia.

“We are interested in the development of the city,” Ellis said. “What was there first and how did it get to the point it was when it was destroyed?”

Smithsonian examined a new study by the University of Campania that found evidence of the use of a machine-gun-like weapon called a polybolos that hurled darts at enemies in rapid succession. The Roman army used a variety of weapons to attack Pompeii, including possibly the polybolos, which used mechanical chains to fire projectiles.

Ellis, who was not part of the new study, is an expert in Roman archaeology who has conducted fieldwork across Europe and North Africa.

The first volume of his book “The Porta Stabia Neighborhood at Pompeii” published in 2023 chronicles the findings of his international research team's work.

Pompeii famously was buried in ash after the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Ellis and his colleagues have learned a lot about daily life in the months and years leading to the cataclysm that entombed Pompeii beneath as much as 30 feet of ash. The neighborhood Ellis uncovered was a retail district consisting of nearly a dozen properties just inside one of Pompeii’s seven main entrance gates. The buildings contained retail shops and entertainment spaces where generations before stood the workshops of skilled trades workers.

His discoveries are shaping what we know about the city’s class structure, economy and culture.

Read the Smithsonian magazine story.

Featured image at top: Smithsonian magazine highlighted the research of UC Classics Professor Steven Ellis. Photo/Andrew HIgley/UC