Explanation: During the Siege of Masada in the First Roman-Jewish War, the Iudean rebels holed up in the mountain fortress of Masada, which looked pretty fucking impenetrable. Unfortunately for the Iudean rebels, the Romans were infamously stubborn, and so decided to just BUILD a ramp so massive and sturdy that you can still see the remains to this day
Siege of Alessia v 2.0. I swear combat engineering was the Romans’ most important military feature. Well, that and the fact that “giving up” was quite literally not in their dictionaries…
Definitely! During the Siege of Jerusalem, they deforested the entire area for several miles around just to build siege engines. One of the more unusual features for the Legions was that, at the time period, it was unusual for professional soldiers or middle-class militia to engage in menial labor on campaign. Every legionary, on the other hand, had the most important tools in a soldier’s arsenal - shovel, axe, and marching pack. And a short-tempered NCO making sure their labors were completed satisfactorily, of course…
