poliorcetics

Poliorcetics, from the Greek poliorcētikē meaning the art of besieging, is the historical study of siegecraft—the planning, execution, and defense of assaults on fortified places. It covers both how to breach walls and how to defend them, and it involves military engineering, logistics, and strategic decision-making.

Practically, it includes siege approaches, the construction and operation of siege engines (ramming devices, towers, artillery), mining and countermining, sapping, and the laying of circumvallation and contravallation lines. It also encompasses the defense of a fortress, including fortification design, garrison administration, sallies, and countermines, as well as the ability to maintain supply and morale under siege.

Historically, poliorcetics appears in Greek and Hellenistic literature and was associated with figures such as Demetrius I Poliorcetes, who earned the epithet the Besieger, and Philo of Byzantium, who wrote on siege engines. The Romans adapted poliorcetic theory to their military engineering, and in medieval and early modern Europe it evolved with the rise of heavy artillery and standardized fortifications. The work of Vauban and others in the 17th and 18th centuries exemplified a systematic approach to siege warfare and fortification design. In contemporary scholarship, poliorcetics is treated as a historical field within military engineering and warfare studies, with modern terms typically being siege warfare or siegecraft.