Military tactic for the reduction of a strong point due to hunger. When faced with tenacious resistance, and a frontal assault was impossible, armies attacking a fortress or fortified city surrounded it, preventing the exit or entry of people and goods into it.
Frequently, the sieges lasted years, during which there were numerous skirmishes, attacks by various means, entrances, exits.
When the invaders judged that the morale and physical condition of the city's defenders had decreased, they launched an attack with battering rams, platforms, ladders, or with stratagems they tried to open the city.
These efforts were repulsed with all types of defensive weapons, including the use of boiling oil thrown on the attackers. The Romans perfected the techniques, building true assault ramps to attack the fortified city.
On many occasions, the final phase of the attack was resolved in a general slaughter of the city's population and its looting. Josephus gives a vivid description of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans (Wars 5-6). See Jeremiah's shocking lamentation of the outcome of Nebuchadnezzar's siege (Book of Lamentations).
Meaning of SIEGE
Military tactic for the reduction of a strong point due to hunger. When faced with tenacious resistance, and a frontal assault was impossible, armies attacking a fortress or fortified city surrounded it, preventing the exit or entry of people and goods into it.
