When we talk about technology we always think in terms of digital items. We think something that involves a screen most likely because that’s what technology has been recently. But thousands of years ago technological advances were much simpler it was the inclined plane or the screw. When the Assyrian Empire was around they created a piece of technology that changed warfare for the time because it helped them scale the walls of cities. Now for our modern world that does not live in walled cities, this is not a big deal. But in the Ancient World, this was a big deal, which led to a fun history lesson as we took out our LEGOs and set out to design a siege tower.
(there are affiliate links in here)
Sigh, I forgot how all of my information from this particular unit got lost, so I need to find the sources again, one moment… Thankfully that means there are five more years of sources to find! YAY!
A great video that only came out two years ago, a great reason to occasionally update my videos.
I’m going to have to watch this one in more detail later.
I do not currently have any books specifically about this topic or ancient siege engines.
When we talk siege towers, we tend to be influenced by what we see in movies and think of something that is transporting dozens of hundreds of soldiers.
In reality, the siege tower held a few people probably less than 20, most likely even less than 10. If you look at the bas-relief from up above that image has one person.
So here was our guidelines:
LEGO Basic set, LEGO minifigures (this is a Harry Potter set that had a bunch of figures, trying to find a set with several figures that wasn’t too expensive took time)
This was Batman’s independent project when we studied Ancient Assyria as part of our Ancient Mesopotamia Unit (I put Ancient Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylon all together into one unit because they are all in the same area over time).
He grabbed a stash of LEGO bricks and started building. He experimented with several different designs before choosing two different siege towers he tried. The first was a smaller one, but it had the problem of no cover for the arrows being shot at them.
Next, he created a multi-layer siege tower that was more able to come up on the city we put together. He spent time explaining why he thought his design would work, how it would be moved into position, and why someone would be able to climb up over the tower and onto the walls.
Since our kids have spent a lot of time studying history, he was able to fairly easily talk through different ways people have counter-acted siege towers. Many of his suggestions were not present at the time we are talking about, so it would not be possible to pour a giant vat of oil onto a siege tower because they couldn’t create that much oil at that time.
But, they could pour a giant vat of boiling water on the tower.
All in all, our design a siege engine lesson was really fascinating to see how he looked at the process, and how much he learned as he built his siege tower.
Look at how cool this siege tower is.
Okay, I’ll talk to y’all later.
Batman created this back when he was in 8th grade, so let’s see what other ideas I’ve got stowed away in the 8th-grade ideas
The post Design a Siege Tower appeared first on Adventures in a Messy Life.
(there are affiliate links in here)
Let’s talk about Siege Towers
Sigh, I forgot how all of my information from this particular unit got lost, so I need to find the sources again, one moment… Thankfully that means there are five more years of sources to find! YAY!
- Assyrian Siege Engines
- Ancient Siege Warfare
- Sadly I can’t find another good site, yet, so I’ll have to update this later on once I have more information
A great video that only came out two years ago, a great reason to occasionally update my videos.
I’m going to have to watch this one in more detail later.
I do not currently have any books specifically about this topic or ancient siege engines.
Designing a siege tower, rules and guidelines
When we talk siege towers, we tend to be influenced by what we see in movies and think of something that is transporting dozens of hundreds of soldiers.
In reality, the siege tower held a few people probably less than 20, most likely even less than 10. If you look at the bas-relief from up above that image has one person.
So here was our guidelines:
- The designed siege tower had to be able to transport a small number of troops.
- You had to be able to explain your siege engine design and how it would help the soldiers breach the walls of the city?
- as part of that, you also had to explain how it would approach the city, and how is it propelled?
- then, how is it protecting the soldiers?
- How would the defending city stop the siege tower?
Supplies to make our siege towers
LEGO Basic set, LEGO minifigures (this is a Harry Potter set that had a bunch of figures, trying to find a set with several figures that wasn’t too expensive took time)
Design a siege tower
This was Batman’s independent project when we studied Ancient Assyria as part of our Ancient Mesopotamia Unit (I put Ancient Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylon all together into one unit because they are all in the same area over time).
He grabbed a stash of LEGO bricks and started building. He experimented with several different designs before choosing two different siege towers he tried. The first was a smaller one, but it had the problem of no cover for the arrows being shot at them.
Next, he created a multi-layer siege tower that was more able to come up on the city we put together. He spent time explaining why he thought his design would work, how it would be moved into position, and why someone would be able to climb up over the tower and onto the walls.
Since our kids have spent a lot of time studying history, he was able to fairly easily talk through different ways people have counter-acted siege towers. Many of his suggestions were not present at the time we are talking about, so it would not be possible to pour a giant vat of oil onto a siege tower because they couldn’t create that much oil at that time.
But, they could pour a giant vat of boiling water on the tower.
All in all, our design a siege engine lesson was really fascinating to see how he looked at the process, and how much he learned as he built his siege tower.
Look at how cool this siege tower is.
Okay, I’ll talk to y’all later.
More great 8th grade ideas
Batman created this back when he was in 8th grade, so let’s see what other ideas I’ve got stowed away in the 8th-grade ideas
- 8th grade books made into movies
- How to make a knight’s shield
- Daily Bingo Writing Prompt Set 1
- Cyprus Unit
- Ender’s Game book club
The post Design a Siege Tower appeared first on Adventures in a Messy Life.