Archimedes, inventor and mathematician of ancient Syracuse, provided many devices to defend the city against a Roman siege during the Second Punic War (215 B.C.). One was a crane with a claw attachment that hoisted Roman galleys partway out of the water, and then released them to fall back and capsize. The Romans were so frightened by his machinery they were said to run in panic every time a bit of rope or wood showed over the wall.