Defying the Might of Ancient Rome: The (Staggering) Siege of Syracuse 213-212 BC
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- Опубліковано 1 тра 2021
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An amphibious army under the command of the Roman proconsul Marcus Claudius Marcellus arrived at the City of Syracuse on the island of Sicily in spring of the year 213 BC. The arrival of this Roman army marked the beginning of a struggle characterized by factionalism, amphibious operations, questionable military decision making, and intricate siege weapons created by the ancient inventor and mathematician Archimedes. The siege of Syracuse was part of the Second Punic War, a war in which Carthage and Rome struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea: from Italy to Iberia, from North Africa to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Because reconstructing events from antiquity is little bit trickier compared to other time periods we covered we will provide some primary sources on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, so you can check where we got our information from. Without further ado: This is how contemporary historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of Syracuse.
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Bibliography
Briscoe, John, The Second Punic War, in: Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C. (Cambridge Ancient History vol. 3), Cambridge 1989.
Cornell, Tim (Hg.), The Second Punic War. A Reappraisal, London 1996.
Dreher, Martin, Das antike Sizilien, München 2008.
Edwell, Peter, War Abroad: Spain, Sicily, Macedon, Africa, in: Hoyos, Dexter (Ed.), A Companion to the Punic Wars, Oxford 2011.
Gowers, Emily, Augustus and Syracuse, in: The Journal of Roman Studies, 2010, Vol. 100 (2010), pp. 69-87.
Hoyos, Dexter, MASTERING THE WEST. Rome and Carthage at War (Ancient Warfare and Civilization), Oxford 2015.
Young, C. K. Archimedes's iron hand or claw - a new interpretation of an old mystery, in: Centaurus 46 (2004), pp. 189-207.
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It actually wasn't a double envelopment as generally understood. twitter.com/bazaarofwar/status/1371133858683482119?s=20
Da Spiel hett mi dezue brocht Gschicht z studiere.
Indiana Jones was at this siege...he meet even with Archimedes in person!
10:12 Behold the archer setting himself on fire after shooting against the wall. This is magnificent gameplay.
😂😂😂
I think it was friendly fire
Lots of poor bastards had awful, and unlucky deaths in war lol
this is the way.
CA quality
"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness"
- Aristotle
"You want to invade the Persian Empire! This is blasphemy! This is madness!"
"Madness?.... Yes... I am Alexander the Great who dares do what ordinary mortals call impossible. Thank you, Aristotle."
You made that up... right? 😂
@@Crafty_Spirit No it's true, actually Aristotle has written a book about it where he mentions the phenomenon of melancholy and how it affects heroes and great minds!!!
@@jimakisspd What is that book?
15:25 in fairness to Carthage, sending lackluster generals (with giant armies) to Sicily was practically a national tradition by this point in history...
Maybe the Carthagenians acutally didn't care about Sicily and just sent troops to get their colonies to stop whining. Also has the bonus of getting rid of some mercenaries they had to pay.
The quality of generals was bad because if a general did a little mistake he would be charged for bad leadership or being traitor, causing him to be executed or exiled
@@Naingwinzaw nah not really
@@Naingwinzaw this is why they lost. As soon as Hannibal marched on Italy, Rome sent legions to Spain, shored up its Sicilian defenses, looked to rebellion in Sardinia and then after getting ass blasted by Hannibal, they hemmed him into the South, maintained their naval advantage and pressed on every other front with everything they could spare. Carthage was so ineffectual as a political body. They had no control over Barcid Spain and even when they committed to war they mostly let Hannibal and his brothers run the show. They never ONCE coordinated their efforts. Imagine if Hannibal had put all his effort into racing to Tarentum, got some ships and then went to Sicily to try and turn Syracuse on Rome? Or if he'd shown some patience and fought Rome in Spain first and then surprised everyone later with the Alps adventure? Or just fucking marched on Carthage himself and demanded the state give him whatever he wanted? All of those were better than him wasting 15 years in Italy. He thought he could get allies from Italy and Macedon and he mostly failed bc most of Italy just saw him as a wannabe conqueror not a savior.
To be honest, outside of Hannibal and Hamilcar, the best general Carthage had was Xanthippus, a Spartan.
Weird I saw a history channel documentary where mathematician Archimedes defended Syracuse aboard a 10 meter tall mechanical hoplite which shot mortal lasers from its eyes then went on to rule Sicily with an iron fist.
SPQR detected on Sicilian soil, lethal force engaged
Not gonna lie that sounds cool as all hell and I would watch that show.
@GrandMoffTarkin'sTeaDispensermatic2000Patented: Make that a bronze fist and I'm on board. Nothing says subjugation quite like a huge bronze fist poised high in the sky, in the upright and ready position by it's counterweights and shining brightly in the Mediterranean sun.
History channel maybe hahahaha
Everybody's heard of the Spartan kick but the Syracusan stomp was the talk of that century.
The great thing about the Claw is you'd only need to use it successfully once, after that no ship would dare get close to a section of the walls where a claw was stationed. People often overlook the usefulness of 'deterrents' in warfare. You dont necessarily have to kill the opponents if you can control to a degree where they can go and what they can do
That's literally modern warfare in a nutshell. It takes tens of thousands of bullets to wound a single enemy. Why all the "random" shooting? To keep the enemy away from you, deny him terrain or persuade him to leave his position. The incidental hitting and killing of an enemy is almost accidental. Almost.
imagine the psychological impact of seeing on your ships at 45° angle. Damn Archimedes was something else
Fear is the mightiest weapon in war.
@@michaelmische1433 "Phobos rules the battlefield"
The fact that nobody else used it, ever, means it was a wunderwaffe: neat but not really practicable. If it had been workable as a deterrent, the Romans would have installed it in their own coastal forts. They were never shy about copying other people's mil-tech.
“I DON’T KNOW WHERE WERE GOING, BUT IT SURE AS HELL AIN’T 1939.”
"Turn this plane around"!!! -voller nazi professor
Nice reference 😂
Who would win:
A highly decorated and skilled military commander
VS
some nerd with circles
THE CIRCLES MASONEDES, WHAT DO THEY MEAN??
Well.. the former buried the latter.
@@ihl0700677525 Marcellus buried Archimedes because the old man's circles were impressive
@@VentiVonOsterreich Lol. Archimedes got buried because gladius prevail over the circles.
A highly decorated and skilled military commander
Creative Assembly sponsored this? Kudos to CA for recognizing talented and interesting creators who make this historical content.
Kudos for CA to finally include scabbards to the models.. after so many failed games...
@@KakyouKuzuki2001 I don't think CA has had years of failed games and im grateful for their continued dedication in Warhammer and Historical titles.
Ok shill
Yeah this has got to be like the 5th or 6th rome remastered sponsored videos I've seen. Glad so many youtubers I enjoy watching are getting CA money
Despite how much venom i can throw at them for their commercial practices, CA uses their money well and sponsors tons of youtubers and content creators to do actual documentaries instead of trashy ads
One of the most interesting sieges of all time. Didn't expect a battle of antiquity to be covered on this channel, since we usually see Renaissance and later here, but i must say that i am pleasantly surprised.
'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' brought me here. 😁
Really makes me wonder how many of Archimedes' inventions were actually used in this siege and how many were only blueprints or never existed in the first place.
i guess the truth is somewhere in the middle. he wouldnt be famous for it, if it all were made up, but you need to consider that after retelling (sometimes years apart by people that werent necassarily experts in siege warfare) through all chaos (e.g. wars) throughout time the sources arent that reliable...
All I know is every time I watch a video like this I have to go and start another campaign in Total war.
Indeed, it was not uncommon, up to and even included in early Renaisance, to present blue prints as existing working pieces of engineering. The notion of enforcing experimentation is relatively new, starting timidly with some Arabic famous names, and completed with Viette and Galileo among others, to make what we today call science.
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me
The most effective weapons were likely not particularly exotic or unusual by the standards of the day. It requires a lot more than just a good creative and mathematical mind to create effective weapons or effective fortifications. It also requires good 'ol practical tactical knowledge as well, and a lot of very effective inventions are also often the ones which are simplest and easiest to build on a large scale. A big part of the challenge is how to deploy them and use them in the most effective way.
Just proves how brutal Rome can be given just one opportunity .
Hannibal and Archimedes were literally carrying Carthage alone .
As an engineer and fanatic of history, Archimedes' ending always makes me cry.
It's sad, and these days it reminds me of anti-intellectual statements that are shouted out through the world today... look how some people continue to dismiss scientists and science if they tell them something they don't want to hear...
@@Crafty_Spirit to be fair intellectuals did their fair share of destroying life .
Lets not forget last 300 years of nonstop revolution vanguarded by so called intlectuals , not the lower class , poor or undoctorinated .
Even some islamic jihadist warlords are well versed polymaths.
@@shahabmos5130 Fair enough, but I was not actually defending scientists because some of them are just as flawed as you said. Rather I complained about people who are rejecting scientific statements for the wrong reasons. I'm a scientist myself and there are systemic and individual problems and shortcomings in mainstream academia.
@@Crafty_Spirit “I’m a scientist myself” ok buddy. I’m sure you’re a brilliant misunderstood redditor. Maybe a group of people thinking they know better than others, and therefore should be able to dictate what others do, is why they often have their *precious* brains spilled out over their stupid circles.
@@Crafty_Spirit
Nowadays, it's the scientists and intellectuals who are anti-science and anti-intellectual - either because they're brainwashed or spineless ........ or both! You just "exposed" yourself. So sad.
24:17 the tombstone says testicle instead of Archimedes you forgot an μ
LMAO 🤣
Rip testicle, gone but not forgotten 😢
21:03 You can tell the footage comes from rome total war because the phalanx randomly turns sideways to expose their side rather then keep their pikes pointed at the enemy.
You HAVE to leave them in guard mode in city streets.
@@kainwittrig2180 shoutout to guard mode and phalanxes making cities OP to defend in
Added to my sacred "Tactical" playlist to be watched with a good meal. Can't wait
Carthage put all their tactical points in Hannibal, whoopsie
I am glad this channel exists!
Thank you for having sources and presenting history in this way!
It's very unique and beautiful!
Glad you enjoy it!
@@SandRhomanHistory Np! May I ask, any plans of doing some Eastern armies videos? Thanks!
Don't be thankful to unwitnessed creators, you religious nut. This video was obviously unintentionally arranged by cats walking on keyboards. Atheism: 1. Intelligence: 0. Atheism wins again!
Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny brought me to this. :)
Hannibal-" I have war elephants "
Scipio - "That's cute"
How is that roman generals are somewhat good at their jobs, rarely missing an opportunity to strike. While carthage has just this one dude that knows what he is doing.
When you really think about it is remarkable how romans won the war, it could be easily other way around
I don’t think it’s that remarkable. Rome had a much larger manpower base compared to Carthage, and in this war they had naval superiority.
@@BoxStudioExecutive it's not really about roman manpower, but that carthage only relied on mercenaries bc they never had a war culture but a commercial one. Rome was created on war and blood so they were used to fight everyday. Also,as craig said, they were really good at absorbing everything good about the enemy.
It's because Rome was, for the most part, a meritocracy. Roman generals needed to win big and impress or their political careers could be dead in the water after their terms were over. Carthaginian generals were members of the nobility leading large mercenary armies who usually cared more about saving their own skins than taking risks needed to win the battles. Their families would still be in power and rule Carthage no matter their results on the battlefield and even if they lost they thought they could simply pay off the enemy and try again later. That's not to say Rome didn't have bad/mediocre generals, it had plenty of those as well, they just tended to die off fast and eventually someone more competent would come along and win the war for Rome.
@@emag4773 they didn’t have a war culture because…wait for it…they had a limited body of citizens to draw upon for their military! This is also known as having less manpower. Funny how that works
@@BoxStudioExecutive yes they had, search up for roman "fides".
Who's here after watching Indiana Jones 5?
Loved that plot twist
me
Me
Finally a channel properly pronouncing Roman names! ❤️
"properly pronouncing Roman names"
Some of them. The others are pronounce in "English", which was inconsistent. A creative choice, I'm not complaining, but it was a bit off putting.
Could it be done better? I don't know. Not an easy choice, that is sure.
Are you sure? I was just about to write that they sounded all wrong!
@@texx1985 they got most of it right, with proper classical Latin pronunciation.
Somewhat less so in the case of Greek names, but still, we should appreciate what we have :D
Full disclosure: my ear bleeds from "Seezer", "Pompee", "Mark Anthony" and the rest...
@@Angelimir I basically have to say "Joolius Seezer" when talking about him in real life or no one would know who I was talking about lol. Though Mark Anthony/Antony bothers me the most out of the ones you listed. Was Pompey's name pronounced "Pompay" with the ay sounding like the word "pay" in English?
@@dangerdan2592 it's actually 'Pompeius' (approx: 'Pohm-pehy-us')
Why is English ortography this silly...??
Btw I think "Vergil" is the most atrocious...
The geometry exam results announced
Me: Please sir, i just neeed a few points
Geometry Teacher: 23:57
How about the Athenian siege of Syracuse during the Peloponnesian war? Same place, and an equally interesting and well studied campaign
And such a funny moment
Aaa yes the expedition of Athens ( Sicilian expedition ) and a very important part of the Peloponnesian war that devastated the greek world
Yes biggest defeat of Athens that eventually favors the rise of Rome
@@alfredvinciguerra532l don't think that the Sicilian expedition favours Rome . I mean Athens lost but that favours Sparta and other city states and kingdoms that support Sparta
@@user-ln8eh5nq3q The defeat opened up the rule of Rome in the Mediterranean before that Athenian Navy ruled
My man finally making da bread with sponsors well done !
Getting that true Roman bread for true Romans.
@@PvtMartin78 The bread dole is back up and running boys. Free bread for all subscribers.
I can imagine a lot of pretty advanced mechanical contraptions existed in the antique, but the "heat ray" mirror I don't think was a thing. Setting moving targets on fire with mirrors or lasers is difficult even today.
At best, it would try to blind people or to limit their vision in encroaching the wall for the defender'sseige works to sucessfully attached to said ships.
Syracuse: Put Sentry here! Put Dispenser here! Put Teleport Here!
Archimedes: Sentry Going Up! Erecting a Dispenser, Teleporter going up!
Someone's sapping my sentry!
I guess the Romans then captured the control point by using a master Spy 😉
Reminds me how crazy easy it was to score as an engineer while spies are fun but much harder to master
Amazing work, not just with the fabulous and entertaining content but your work citing EVERYTHING down to the caption is just perfect. Thank you!
Fast becoming one of my favourite history channels, nice work
This was some of your very best work yet.
Amazing video! I would love to see more videos about the sieges from early or pre-gun powder periods. I know that such a video would require new art and a lot of time, but still, I think there is great potential. Anyway, keep going with this amazing job!
Staggering sieges I would really love to see:
1. Siege of Breda
2. Siege of Cusco
3. Siege of Tenochtitlan
4. Siege of La Rochelle
5. Siege of Carthagena de Indias
6. Siege of Smolensk
7. Siege of Rome (Belisarius)
8. Siege of Rhodes (Demetrius)
9. Siege of Rome (Visigoths)
10. Siege of Jasna Gora
Do whatever I want, your content is amaizing since Herodotes travels, it's just this would make my blood pump over the roof.
Yeah man, thanks so much! good new: next video will be Breda :) And we will do La rochelle for sure, probably in summer or fall!
@@SandRhomanHistory Thanks for the answer! I am translating a movie Alatriste and there is a scene were the main character together with his crew end up in Breda assulting Dutch trough trenches. Timing is perfect.
"Don't disturb my circles." What a badass. Of the scholarly sort of course. Badass of the mind.
Great work - as always. Counting down to your next video.
wanted to learn more after watching Indiana Jones
My beautiful hometown of Syracuse and my fellow Syracusan Archimede
Excellent video! I really enjoyed watching this as well as the many other videos produced by you
Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny anyone???? 🤭
Love the references in corner, keep up the good work!
Your channel is a gem
Did they ever get to fight a dragon?
I love the history of Syracuse (My family is from there) and I love Archimedes. Great video!
I love when creators provide references 🥰 beautifully considerate.
Beautifully presented as always and I really appreciate the extra effort you always put in to provide sources, quotes from historians etc.
Quicky becoming my favourite history channel!
fenomenal video sir. very interesting as always
Very informative. I was gonna ask if that were the first ever Greek Roman conflict in sicily but i had totally forgotten pyrrhus adventure years ago
Thank you for making more Roman content!
This is better production quality then anything I've seen on TV regarding History!
What a nice fresh video..breaks the norm ..just as good 💯
"μή μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε!"
Γειά σας :)
quid?
@@carlomagno7092 That's Latin 😂
Was that the bathtub-Archimedes?
Indeed he was
Yeah, Greek scientists with Carthagenean generals, sadly, the worst Carthagenean generals ever... :-( ua-cam.com/video/pOU6zlAagF0/v-deo.html
web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/steamCannon/ArchimedesSteamCannon.html
Eureka!
nice product placement, really well done. I enjoy ur vid keep up bro
Love to see more videos on the ancient world!
In the end, it's is Rome 2's mod - Divide et Impera - which proved to be the best (in my humble opinion, at least) "Total War set during the antique".
Rome 1 had Rome Total Realism that was pretty good but for me the best is still Europa Barbarorum 2 mod for M2TW!
man, I'm happy to see you all getting sponsored!! I wish I could throw you some money, such great content!!!!
Check out their patreon! They're worth it, I tell you.
Awesome as always
Age of Empires’ mirror towers were so frustrating. “....aaaaaand my navy is sunk.”
10:15 Syracuse‘s formidable AA defense in action
archemedis raygun could have also been a demonstration piece of archemedis. the greeks seemed to have liked to make “toys” or “proofs of concept” pieces without any real practical intent. like the steam engine or automaton.
and this later caused speculation about if it was actually used.
Where's Heinkel HE111 in this battle?
23:57: Μὴ μου τούς κύκλους τάραττε!
Great video!
Can’t wait for the siege of Alessia video
Syracuse is genuinely my favorite country to play in Rome 2 on DEI. The units are unique and it’s positioned perfectly to be a naval and trade power despite its very hard starting position
Those are some really cool drawing in the beginning of the video
Great story, fantastic illustrations. Marcellus doesn't sound half bad.
I think it's quite cool that you got such a big sponsor for this video, ensuring you can get that true Roman bread for true Romans.
This is one of my favorite history readings Archimedes was truly amazing so was Hannibal of Carthage pyrrhic of epirus in the Scipio's of Rome
there should be movie about this ancient war
What a beautiful video
It's 25 minutes it came out 6 minutes before you wrote that comment
good as always
Amazing video.
Amazing!
So I just found this channel. Who does the art? It is dope thus far and I’m only a minute in.
Glad that you're getting big enough to get these sponsorships
16:40 take a closer look at those trees...
Just popping in to say that the tombstone at around 24:10 misspells something that in greek can be read as Testicle. I guess the Geometrist was working on 3d models and what he said to the soldier was "don't disturb my balls".
Is that true that the omission of one letter changes "Archimedes" to "Testicles"? How can that be? 😅
@@Crafty_Spirit two letters but yeah, it can. It's like changing "Clint" to "clit".
If you also like anime / manga the author of Parasyte wrote a short manga about this siege called Heureka, I guess it might be considered some kind of prototype since he later wrote another historical manga about the career of Eumenes of Cardia. Marcellus was a most interest figure, his whole career could be an interesting subject, when he was young he saved the life of his brother while both were serving in the army, he won the Spolia Opima by defeating a Gallic king in single combat and after the dissaster of Cannae he fought to standstill against Hannibal in at least 3 encounters before finally dying in combat during an ambush, Hannibal sent his body to his family to be buried properly which contrasts with the treatment Livius Salinator and Gaius Claudius Nero gave to Hasdrubal after the Battle of the Metaurus.
Love the video but no way it hell I'll buy that soulless remaster.
It is interesting that such unusually successful (especially for a Carthaginian) general as Hannibal Barka didn't realize utmost strategic importance of Sicily and of Syracuse in particular, or had so much confidence in ability of other Carthaginian commanders, and did not took the task of capturing and securing it with his own hands, sitting defensively in the south Italy instead while these events were unfolding.
hey SandRhoman press the K key next time when using total war footage since it will hide hud elements
one can only imagine what he thought so important to keep studying in the last moments
"When a body is being sunk into a tub of water, the house phone is bound to ring"
The unforgotten Law of Archimedes.
This was a problem before smart phones was invented.
Good and interesting!
The art is highly appreciated
While I'm not very fond of modern CA, I understand you have to pay your bills somehow (and sadly I can't contribute to Patreon). That aside, I like you coming back to antiquity, and the small sections with the game's footage were not that intrusive in retrospect. Great work, guys!
What is "CA", and what does it have to do with the video, elaborate please on your thoughts
@@beornenmannr3218 CA stands for Creative Assembly they are the studio known for developing the Total War video game series. Granted, I don't know what decisions are made by Sega (the company that owns them), but in recent years they have made some questionable things. Case in point, many argue that this "remaster" is a cash grab.
Anyways, it's just my gamer side showing up, Sandro and Roman content it's great.
Awesome
I know it's probably not easy to correct , but at 24:14 , Archimedes' tombstone reads "testicle"(Αρχίδης) (It should be Αρχιμήδης) lol. please fix this somehow :P I love your videos on sieges , i wish you would cover more ancient stuff as well.
I would if I could! I think it's a joke by the artist ^^
Ooh, taking the Siege route rather than the Renaissance-Early Modern topics this channel lately specialized in? Well, I'm not complaining.
I wonder how many views this video is going to get because of the new indiana jones movie?!
8:52 The soldier near the bottom center of the screen looks like he'd been whipped at one time and has the scars to prove it. Nice touch.
Burning the sails is big brain
Please make an video on Skanderbeg
Thank you for terrific commentary and excellent. I’m not sure I believe the giant claw and mirror parts since it is unreliable to put to much to in ancient ‘historians’ who are almost always writing for their patrons. But a great siege and final victory for the Romans.
How different history would've been had Archimedes not been slain by that impatient Roman Soldier. Would we have gotten a better understanding of his inventions or not. I wonder. Great video.
Very much likely not much different at all , single people are far less important than a lot of people think . Inventions are not the result of singular genius although they might appear to be
@@JayzsMr---I know one person invents but plenty of others are needed to bring this invention into existence.
Double evelopment reminds me of the battle of Cowpens!
Imagine being known as "Carthage's Worst Admiral in History".
MORE ROME! LOVE IT