Avar Siege Technology

Timeline

1. c. 558–580Sirmium · SerbiaThe Avars migrated west from the North Caucasus and occupied the Pannonian Plain in 568. They brought knowledge of siege engines obtained from Central Asia and dealings on the Byzantine frontier, including movable siege towers (helepolis-type) and torsion catapults. During the siege of Sirmium in 580, the Avar–Slav allied forces used large catapults to batter the walls, and the city's fall shocked Byzantium.
2. c. 581–600Belgrade (Singidunum) · SerbiaIn the late sixth century the Avar khanate launched a series of sieges against the Byzantine Danube frontier. Siege techniques covered siege trenches, earthworks, fire attacks and psychological warfare; the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta recorded that the Avar khagan's camp maintained a dedicated corps of craftsmen responsible for building and operating siege engines. By this period the Avar siege system had matured, becoming one of the strongest siege forces in Central Europe.