Editing Siege tower (section)

==Ancient use==
In the [[First Intermediate Period]] tomb of General Intef at [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] (modern [[Luxor, Egypt]]), a mobile siege tower is shown in the battle scenes.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Egyptian Warfare: Tactics, Weaponry and Ideology of the Pharaohs|author=Ian Shaw|date=17 December 2019|publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-1-5040-6059-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0q_CDwAAQBAJ&q=siege+tower+in+ancient+egypt&pg=PT41}}</ref> In modern [[Harpoot]], Turkey, an artistically [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] style stone carved relief dated circa 2000 BC was found depicting a siege tower, the earliest known visual depiction from [[Anatolia]] (although siege towers were later described in [[Hittite cuneiform]] writing).<ref>{{cite web |title=Harput relief changes region's history |publisher=[[Hurriyet Daily News]] |url= https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/harput-relief-changes-regions-history---111027 |date=20 March 2017 |access-date=27 May 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Assyrian Attack on a Town.jpg|thumb|right|[[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian]] attack on a town with archers and a wheeled battering ram; Neo-Assyrian relief, North-West Palace of [[Nimrud]] (room B, panel 18); 865–860 BC]]
[[Image:MasadaRamp.jpg|right|thumb|The remains of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] siege-ramp at [[Masada]]]]
Siege towers were used by the armies of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in the 9th century BC, under [[Ashurnasirpal II]] (r. 884 BC – 859 BC). Reliefs from his reign, and subsequent reigns, depict siege towers in use with a number of other siege works, including ramps and [[battering ram]]s.
[[File:Young Folks' History of Rome illus106.png|thumb|left|Roman siege tower]]

Centuries after they were employed in Assyria, the use of the siege tower spread throughout the [[Mediterranean]]. During the siege of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] in the 8th century BC, siege towers were built by [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]] for the army led by [[Piye]] (founder of the [[Nubians|Nubian]] [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|25th dynasty]]), in order to enhance the efficiency of [[Military of ancient Nubia|Kushite archers]] and [[Sling (weapon)|slingers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Siege warfare in ancient Egypt |publisher=Tour Egypt |url= https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/siegewarfare.html |access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> 
After leaving Thebes, Piye's first objective was besieging [[Ashmunein]]. Having assembled his army for their lack of success so far, the King then undertook the personal supervision of operations including the erection of a siege tower from which Kushite archers could fire down into the city.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dodson|first=Aidan|date= 1996|title=Monarchs of the nile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jsq0AHsC-YMC&q=Kushite+siege+towers&pg=PA178|language=en|volume=1|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press |isbn=978-97-74-24600-5}}</ref>

During the siege of Syracuse in 413 BC, Athenians erected a siege tower on ship hull. Alexander did the same at Tyre (322 BC) as did Marcellus in Syracuse (214 BC).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Pitassi |first=Michael |title=Hellenistic naval warfare and warships 336-30 BC: War at Sea from Alexander to Actium |date=2022 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1-3990-9760-4 |location=Barnsley (GB) |page=Chapter 3, 1 |chapter=Chapter 3: Rams, Towers, Artillery and Tactics}}</ref> Towers were used against both land and naval targets. At the time of Emperor Aggripa, ship towers were built with a lighter, collapsible design that could be stowed flat on the deck when not in use, lowering the center of gravity.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pitassi |first=Michael |title=The Roman navy: ships, men & warfare, 350 BC - AD 475 |date=2012 |publisher=Seaforth Publ |isbn=978-1-84832-090-1 |location=Barnsley |chapter=Chapter 2, The Ships: Shipboard Weapons}}</ref>

The biggest siege towers of antiquity, such as the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic Greek]] ''[[Helepolis]]'' (meaning "''The Taker of Cities''" in [[Koine Greek|Greek]]) of the [[Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC)|siege of Rhodes in 305 BC]] by [[Demetrius I of Macedon]], could be as high as {{convert|40|m|abbr=on}} and as wide as {{convert|20|m|abbr=on}}. Such large engines would require a [[rack and pinion]] to be moved effectively. It was manned by 200 soldiers and was divided into nine stories; the different levels housed various types of [[Onager (siege weapon)|catapult]]s and [[ballista]]e. Subsequent siege towers down through the centuries often had similar engines.

However, large siege towers could be defeated by the defenders by flooding the ground in front of the wall, creating a moat that caused the tower to get bogged in the mud. The siege of Rhodes illustrates the important point that the larger siege towers needed level ground. Many castles and hill-top towns and forts were virtually invulnerable to siege tower attack simply due to topography. Smaller siege towers might be used on top of siege-mounds, made of earth, rubble and timber mounds in order to overtop a defensive wall. For example, the remains of such a siege-ramp at [[Masada]], Israel built by [[Ancient Rome|the Romans]] during the [[siege of Masada]] (72–73 AD) have survived and can still be seen today.

On the other hand, almost all the largest cities were on large rivers, or the coast, and so did have part of their circuit wall vulnerable to these towers. Furthermore, the tower for such a target might be prefabricated elsewhere and brought dismantled to the target city by water. In some rare circumstances, such towers were mounted on ships to assault the coastal wall of a city: at the Roman [[siege of Cyzicus]] during the [[Third Mithridatic War]], for example, towers were used in conjunction with more conventional siege weapons.<ref name="Roman">''Siege Warfare in the Roman World, 146 BC–AD 378'', [[Osprey Publishing]], {{ISBN|1-84176-782-4}}</ref>

One of the oldest references to the mobile siege tower in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]] was a written dialogue primarily discussing [[naval warfare]]. In the Chinese ''Yuejueshu'' (Lost Records of the [[Yue (state)|State of Yue]]) written by the later [[Han dynasty]] author Yuan Kang in the year 52 AD, [[Wu Zixu]] (526 BC – 484 BC) [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|purportedly]] discussed different ship types with King [[Helü of Wu]] (r. 514 BC – 496 BC) while explaining military preparedness. Before labeling the types of warships used, Wu said:

{{blockquote|Nowadays in training naval forces we use the tactics of land forces for the best effect. Thus great wing ships correspond to the army's heavy chariots, little wing ships to light chariots, stomach strikers to [[battering ram]]s, castle ships to mobile assault towers, and bridge ships to light cavalry.|<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 678">[[Joseph Needham|Needham, Joseph]] (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Page 678 (e)</ref>}}