Comparative study of the image of catapult war tools in the manuscript of the Ilkhanid Jami ʿ al-tawārīkh with the scientific mechanism of tools in scientific sources

The catapult is a weapon of war that was widely used in the early Islamic period and before the invention of the cannon. In pictures from the manuscript of the Ilkhanid Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh, images of this weapon were illustrated in various scenes. Therefore, identifying the representation, visual quality, and image of catapult tools in the paintings of the manuscript of the Ilkhanid Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh and also recognizing the degree of adherence of the paintings of Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript to scientific principles in illustrating catapult tools and the arrangements adopted by painters has been done. In this regard, research questions are: 1- How is the image of the catapult tool represented and illustrated in the paintings of the Ilkhanid Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript? 2. What is the visual quality of the catapult in the paintings of the Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript? 3- To what extent have the paintings of Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript adhered to scientific principles? This research has been done in a descriptive-analytical method with a comparative approach and using documentary sources and libraries the Case Studies include 5 paintings of the Ilkhanid Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript, which have been selected in a non-probabilistic and purposeful manner and these cases have been compared with two examples of images from scientific sources, namely the book of weapons and killing tools by Ehsan Hindi and the book of Al-Aniq Fi Al-Manajniq by Ibn Arnbagha Al-Zardkash and the method of analyzing the images is qualitative. In this comparison, the images of catapults illustrated in the paintings of the Ilkhanid Jamiʿ al-tawārīkh manuscript are analyzed based on the scientific mechanism of this weapon and the degree of adherence of the illustrated samples to the scientific structure of the instrument has been measured. Also, the results of the research show that the painters did not have complete and accurate knowledge of the scientific mechanism of the catapult tool and have merely illustrated its appearance also, the study of the samples shows that all the samples are illustrated based on catapults of Arabic or Persian and Turkish type and Roman or Farangi and Soltani types are not seen among the samples.