There are several ways in which a catapult works.
A ocounterweight catapult works by droping a weight strafed to a boom, while the thboom acts like a giant lever. The projectile builds up momentum at the other end (usually in a sling or cup). At the apex of the swing, the projectile is released to travel in a ballistic trajectory.
Tortion machines (onager, balista, scorpion) use a twisted bundle of rope(skein) to push the boom foreward. this method generates surprising amounts of power.
Macedonia!!!
The word catapult came from ancient greece. It was also invented there. It means from two seperate words kata pultos
Ziggurats were first built by the Summerians in 5200 BCE.
they were step pyramids built out of stone
Yes, Dionysius invented the "repeating catapult." A device that can hurl heavy objects a far distance with little effort.