Demetrius, the Besieger, and the Iron Ramp
Siege machines creaked in the night as Demetrius ordered an iron ramp built right over city walls—nowhere in Greece had seen anything like it.
Demetrius, the Besieger, and the Iron Ramp, public domain
The Iron Ramp
In 305 BC, Demetrius Poliorcetes, the 'Besieger of Cities', faced the formidable walls of Rhodes. When ladders and catapults failed, he had his engineers craft a colossal iron ramp—rolled forward on wheels, it threatened to pour soldiers directly over the ramparts.
A city fights back
Rhodes didn’t crumble. The defenders used grappling hooks to drag the iron ramp off course and set it ablaze with fire arrows. The contraption buckled, and Demetrius’s monstrous machine never breached the city. Ancient warfare wasn’t just about muscle—it was a battle of wits, too.
The last laugh goes to Rhodes
Demetrius withdrew, his machines wrecked. The Rhodians melted down the scrap—legend says they built the Colossus from the remains. Sometimes defense means turning enemy steel into a god.
Demetrius Poliorcetes’ siege of Rhodes pushed ancient engineering to its weirdest limits, but clever defenders proved that inventiveness was a match for brute force.
