about 3/4 of a ton of women's hair. In 225 BC Seleucus gave Rhodes a present of hair weighing 1000 talents. This gift was a part of international relief program after a catastrophic earthquake. This shows that a large trade in human hair existed in Hellenistic period. A typical ballista could throw a stone weighing 1 talent (60 minae = 26.2 kg) at the distance of 400 yards. There existed heavy ballistae able to throw stones weighing 3 talents and more. Much longer ranges were claimed by Athenaeus Mechanicus "...a three-span catapult shot 700 yards (three and half stades); its springs weighted twelve minae. A four-cubit palintone engine shot 800 yards (four stades)". Athenaeus of Naucratis mentions a catapulte designed by Archimedes, which could throw a three talent stone at the distance of one stade. This catapult was installed on a ship. Polybius (VIII,7,9) writes that catapults used to defend Syracuse during the siege by Marcellus were throwing stones of 10 talents (262 kg). The largest weight of projectiles mentioned in Vitruvius is 460 pounds. When describing the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, Josephus writes that "the stone balls that were being hurled weighted one talent and traveled two or more stades (400 yards)". Philo of Byzantium writes that the stone walls have to be at least 10 cubits (about 3 meters) thick to be unaffected by stone-shot. According to Schramm, the best arrow-throwing catapults could be trusted to hit a man at 100 yards, so the accuracy was better than of an early 19th-century musket. Use The main use of artillery was in the siege of fortified places. The heavy stone-throwing pieces were used to destroy the walls, while the lighter arrow-shooting pieces to clear the walls from the enemy defending them Sometimes ballistae were used to fire extraordinary projectiles, like pots with snakes, or even parts of dead bodies, with the purpose of terrifying the enemy. For example, the Romans catapulted to the camp of Hannibal the head of his brother Hasdrubal. Artillery was also used as flame carriers. During the last night of Demetrius siege of Rhodes the Rhodians fired 800 cylinders with some incendiary substance; the cylinders being subsequently collected and counted; they managed to set fire on Demetrius' armored tower. Several attempts to use artillery in the field are recorded but they were mostly unsuccessful, except when the artillery could be deployed in some protected