“ PHILO OF BYZANTIUM, Greek writer on mechanics, flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century B.C. (according to some, a century earlier) . He was the author of a large work Μηχανικὴ σύνταξις) , of which the fourth and (in epitome) fifth books are extant, treating of missiles, the construction of fortresses, provisioning, attack and defence (ed. R. Schone, 1893, with German translation in H. Köchly’s Griechische Kriegsschriftsteller, vol. i. 1853; E. A. Rochas d’Aiglun, Poliorcétique des Grecs, 1872) . ”