1-632-911 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Tower of Demetrius Poliorcetes during the Siege of Rhodes in 305 BC, (1842). Demetrius, the son of Antigonus I, besieged Rhodes in 305 BC in order to break the island's alliance with Ptolemy I of Egypt. Demetrius used a variety of great siege engines, including this 130 foot high wheeled tower, but was unable to take the city and abandoned the siege the following year. Plate from A History of the Development and Customs of Chivalry, by Dr Franz Kottenkamp, 1842.