Chatterbox Thursday

Ten,

Thanks for the post yesterday and the links. I was specifically looking for siege towers which were used to facilitate getting onto the battlements, seems that the Assyrians utilised a more general version which allowed archer to deploy covering fire.

As for postern gates, interesting point you make. I get the impression that these were used to allow a quick sorty against any troops attacking the walls, the last thing you want to see as you are climbing a ladder are a bunch of enemy troops below you.

If the defenders made a raid or sorty against a set position or just to divert attention they'd need to get back quickly, you couldn't risk opening the gates (could take too long and the gates may well be sealed up) so a bolt hole back into the city would have been preferable. If the enemy troops did attack them and get entry they are easily defended as one person would only be able to fight at a time. They's also be vulnerable from the city walls.

siege engines were pushed from within, or at least that's how I see it.

Mornin'

Last night I watched the finales of The City & The City and Troy: Fall of a City. Knowing nothing of China Mievilles' work, I quite enjoyed it. It took a fair bit of effort to get past the premise but it was done well and I enjoyed it. Troy was a bit shit in parts but OK overall and it's made me want to reread The Odyssey so that's a plus I guess. Also @scam, your podcast has been a nice accompaniment to it.

I popped on The Division for a quick half hour last night. I completed the Daily DZ cache and made a start on the Weekly in readiness for today's big update. I should have enough DivTech to fully optimise my entire loadout tonight. Which is nice. I'm not sure what i'll do after that as it's been the goal since I came back to the game at Christmas. I suppose I can get on the stuff I haven't done yet, a couple of Incursions, some Legendary missions, explore West Side Piers properly etc I guess. Maybe, just maybe I'll finally get around to the Horizon Zero Dawn DLC I bought in November.

...why would you voluntarily do such a thing?

Also, why have you not 100%ed the BoO yet? That should be your priority I feel as it opens up more perks / skills / talents.

Morning,

Didn’t see yesterday’s post in time as I was already indebed.

Therefore, slightly delayed – the top 5 Assyrian sieges for Rolling to impress his friends with:

5 – 714 BC: Sargon II lays siege to Musasir, city of the god Haldi. He plunders the temple of Haldi, takes the wife and children of the local ruler Urzana prisoner as well as all 6170 inhabitants, plus 692 donkeys, 920 cows and 100225 sheep. Urzana escapes but kills himself with his own sword “like a pig”.

4 – 701 BC: Sennacherib unsuccessfully besieges Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom of Judah. In preparation for the siege king Hezekiah orders the construction of the Siloam Tunnel that provides Jerusalem with fresh water and cuts off all other water supplies around the city. The biblical account claims that the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian troops overnight, prompting Lord Byron to write a poem.

3 – 689 BC: Sennacherib sacks Babylon and completely destroys the city by diverting the waters of the Euphrates canals through it. The rubble floats down the river and reaches the Gulf. On the island of Bahrain a local man stands on the shore with his small son. “Daddy, what’s all this rubbish in the water?” asks the child. “My son, this is Babylon” his father answers.

Bonus battle: Two years earlier Sennacherib was facing the Babylonian and Elamite nobles who were responsible for the death of his son on the battlefield of Halule. They beat a hasty retreat in their chariots whilst pissing themselves in fear.

2 – 673 BC: During the siege of the city Uppume the Assyrian king Esarhaddon erects a siege wall. One night the enemy sprays it with naphtha and attempts to set it alight. However, the enemy has failed to check with the almanac that the day is unfavourable. Rookie mistake! The wind turns, the siege wall is unscathed, and the city wall is reduced to ash.

1 – 648 BC: After four years of rebellion in Babylonia led by his own brother, Shamash-shuma-ukin, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal is finally successful in his siege of Babylon. Rather than facing his brother Shamash-shuma-ukin throws himself into the flames of his burning palace.

Other highlights: Assyrian kings boasting of “scattering the enemies’ testicles on the plain like cucumber seeds”; Assyrians playing popular ball games with severed heads; Assyrians forcing captured enemies to grind the bones of their ancestors into dust.

Unforgivien 3
All Nightmare Long
Judas Kiss
Day That Never Comes

Much as it pains me to take anyone’s side in this place, it’s not a complete stinker.

HONK!

Morning,

Heading down to the Lancaster area for a few days with the in-laws. Mrs Cranks sis & fam driving up from Oxford.

Games. Should have played more the division but decided to farm money in GTA. Only did a couple of missions in the division and need to start doing the missions to open up the wings in the base. Also just realised my scar-h rifle had a scope. I did add it to the said rifle - so I dunno how that happened.

Wee - glad you are enjoying it. Troy has had its critics, so my podcasts are more about expanding on what I've noted down rather than lobbing insults at it. I've followed some of the episodes on twitter and there have been a few glorious moments where pedants have got things utterly wrong.

Ten - I was going to do a piece on crucifixion decided against it because, well, it gets very controversial and quite tricky. In short there are a wide range of terms for it in Greek (even to the level of whether someone was dead before or done whilst alive). Even in Roman times there wasn't an agreed practice but due to either laziness or religious concerns we then have one term and one type retrospectively used for any uses or instances of these terms. So we read that lions were crucified outside Carthage, and technically the head of Leonidas was 'crucified' after the battle of Thermopylae (though they mean put on a pole).


Needless to say I started with impalings, love the detail on some of the Assyrian friezes. Heads up - impaled and alive, head down - dead. It was a simpler time....

AC origins is going to take some time...by the time it's out FC5 will be cheapish and then later on in the year there's Red Dead. I played one of the earlier ones and it was fun albeit I just smashed buttons a lot. 

I was very concerned to read that the Mary River Turtle has been added to the list of endangered species: www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/11/green-haired-turtle-that-breathes-through-its-genitals-added-to-endangered-list

If breathing through your genitals doesn't give you an evolutionary edge, what hope is there?

I just found out that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme tune was an Eagles song, amazed I am