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Warmatrix

War Matrix - Siege tower

Middle Bronze Age 2200 BCE - 1600 BCE, Weapons and technology

Siege tower
Siege tower
With the increasing importance of sieges in the Middle Bronze Age, siege tactics were enhanced. One of the innovations was the siege tower, which was employed side by side with the battering ram.
A siege tower was a temporary tower, usually made of wood, mounted on a sturdy cart. Like most siege equipment, it was constructed on the spot, though some parts would be carried by the army on approach. A good siege tower needed to reach as high as the walls is was designed to attack. From this height, archers could shoot down on the wall defenders, rather than up. If there were no obstacles, a siege tower could be driven right up to the wall. Then a ramp would be let down over which attackers could charge onto the wall, at the same level as the defenders.
Defenders often tried to set the wooden constructions alight with fire arrows, so they were often protected with hides soaked in water. Siege towers could be huge; the "Helepolis" (Taker of Cities), possibly the largest ever, was constructed on Rhodos in 305 BCE was more than 40 meters high, 22 wide at the base and 9 at the top. It had iron plating, several catapults and ballistae, had swinging wheels and required 3,500 men to be pushed forward. Despite all the effort that had gone into it, it failed to take the city of Salamis. When the besiegers retreated, the people of Rhodos used the material of their equipment to construct the Colossus of Rhodos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.