Speculative Fact #156: The Taker of Cities

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During the Hellenistic era, one of the quickest ways of earning renown and prestige among your fellow Greeks was by conquering a city, preferably a powerful one allied with your rivals. Enter Demetrius I Poliorcetes (“The Besieger”). During the infamous ancient debacle known as the Siege of Rhodes, he ordered the construction of a number of large and impressive siege weapons (including a battering ram almost two hundred feet long and operated by a thousand men).

Perhaps the greatest of them was a great siege tower known as the Helepolis (“The Taker of Cities”). If the numbers alluded to by ancient authors are accurate, the dimensions of the brooding siege tower were a hundred and thirty feet tall by sixty five feet wide. The hundred and sixty ton beast was bristling with catapults and had a whopping crew of three thousand four hundred. That would have made the Helepolis the largest siege tower in history and a true nightmare for the city defenders. If you are writing a fantasy tale with an ancient city you may enjoy a terrifying siege weapon to terrify your city defenders…and readers.

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