Practical ways of totally leveling a place.

**satalexton** · 01-05-2010, 10:41

In the modern age, we have all sorts of toys and gadgets that go BOOM.

In Antiquity, how does a vengeful strategos exterminate a place for good? Wholesale slaughter and enslavement works well for the humans and barbaroi. But what of the farms, walls and buildings? Salting a place can only be a metaphorical expression. Salt was worth it's weight in gold back then.

Flooding by redirecting rivers/damming has been done before, but not all places have a large enough body of water near it...

**Weebeast** · 01-05-2010, 11:07

Well killing/enslaving the population is practical enough. Those things you mention need to be maintained. Setting the place on fire seems practical too though usually it's not adequate to level a city in a short period of time. Persepolis survived a fire and abandoned much later after nearby spot gained prominence. It's not just antiquity thing. Something similar happened to Port Royal in Jamaica.

**Arkhis** · 01-05-2010, 11:22

By farms, do you mean the crops, or the farm buildings? Both can be burned to the ground, but the farms and their food production are actually very important. Destroying that would be utterly stupid for anyone who has even the slightest intention of holding the lands, no matter how vengeful they may be.

The same goes for cities. There's a reason why they're located at certain places. Torching a city is only useful if a nearby city can take over the role (of government seat), or in the case of ancient settlements, to rebuild them according to more modern patterns and with modern systems and needs in mind.

In all honesty, any general should first of all keep the needs of his own country in mind, before he thinks of revenge. Besides, if you really want to pass vengeance on a city, just slaughter its population, and tear down their monuments. Tearing down walls is a long and arduous task (if it were easy, sieges wouldn't be so bad), which should only be done if you're sure they won't have any use.

In case of destroying a city, however, burning it might be the best solution. You don't need wooden buildings for that, though it helps. You might need a catalyst in some cases.

Of course, not every strategos is as pragmatical. Some are utter lunatics as well ;).

**bobbin** · 01-05-2010, 11:36

Originally Posted by Weebeast

It's not just antiquity thing. Something similar happened to Port Royal in Jamaica.

IIRC it sank into the harbour after an earthquake, nothing to do with manmade causes.

**Titus Marcellus Scato** · 01-05-2010, 12:02

Leveling a city, especially one with stone walls and stone buildings, means a hell of a lot of work. You'd need a massive army of slaves to do it quickly, or a lot of time with few slaves.

**Weebeast** · 01-05-2010, 12:17

IIRC it sank into the harbour after an earthquake, nothing to do with manmade causes.

Similar I said. Port Royal Jamaica just sprang up to my mind and they both ended up being abandoned. I coulda said Carthage being replaced later with Utica and then Tunis but that'd be a cliche. Not sure why I said that but what I was getting at is people are stubborn like that.

**Cute Wolf** · 01-05-2010, 17:11

Hydrogen fusion thermonuclear bomb always works....

Or if we talk about Antiquity, 60 Trained elephants could tear down a city rather quickly, as well as eat the plantations for some snack.

**HunGeneral** · 01-05-2010, 19:37

I think the best way for antiquiti would be to simply leave no survivers - if theres no one to repair or reuild the place then its as good as ruined. (although it would be hard to make sure no one survives...)

**-42-** · 01-05-2010, 20:30

Loot, kill the men, rape the women, burn the town to the ground, steal the livestock and crops then burn everything that's left.

Move on.

**Centurio Nixalsverdrus** · 01-05-2010, 22:57

Capture the city.
Let soldiers do what they want for some weeks. That's normally already very destroying.
Enslave the whole population that's left and that's worth to be maintained as a slave.
Tear down any significant or iconic buildings.
Destroy water supply, hydragogioi, bathing facilities.
Burn the city to the ground.
Close the city walls from the outside, make sure nobody can escape (normally older people by then).
Bring plague-contaminated clothing and rotten corpses into the city.
Tell anybody of the ghost town. Nobody will ever go there again.

**antisocialmunky** · 01-06-2010, 06:02

You could just go on Alexandrian bender. He destroyed a few places that way.

**Rahwana** · 01-06-2010, 09:24

Hmm, in EB, I once Exterminate Pella, destroying everything, (include the filthy Makedonian tomb inside), and after that fortify the surrounding city with my legions. No one dare to enter Pella as it was rebelled, and then It was my favourite training ground for fresh legionaries, on how to spill some Makedonian blood as warming up lesson