5 ms·

Great question. I am not too familiar with Constantinople's waterworks (I've been reading mostly about Rome itself). Off the top of my head, could be related to

by Naga 5y ago

Great question. I am not too familiar with Constantinople's waterworks (I've been reading mostly about Rome itself). Off the top of my head, could be related to exactly where the aqueducts were built or placed. Parts may or may not be easily accessible, or underground in areas. Besiegers would also have to know they are there, since it wasn't as easy to google as it is now a days. Quick search though shows that it had been cut during at least one siege: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(626) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(626). The key is that you don't have to destroy the entire structure during a siege too, you just have to break ti enough that water doesn't flow through anymore.

simmerup 5y ago
Thanks that makes sense
hinkley 5y ago
If you plan to take the city, you have to break it without causing it to destroy itself. Water where it's not supposed to be can flood. It can undermine footings and destroy massive structures including itself. If you want to destroy a fort you might throw a dead animal in the well. If you plant to keep the fort, that would be a titanically stupid idea. You can cut off food supply and restore it the moment your flag is flying. Hell, you can stand the wagons on a hilltop as part of negotiating a surrender. How do you divert a river and put it back on demand, with not even medieval technology?
- LaMarseillaise 5y ago
  > How do you divert a river and put it back on demand, with not even medieval technology? Now I am wondering how Kurus handled this situation after he took Babylon.
  - RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
    I wonder if that was actually a myth to hide the fact that he had inside collaboraters. The priests of Marduk in Babylon hated Nabonidis due to his abandonment of Marduk worship and making another city his headquarters. It may have been more acceptable to the population to tell them that the Persians diverted a river at night and entered rather than saying the gates were opened by insiders.
  - hinkley 5y ago
    Floodplains are weird, for one thing. On a small scale you can improve a stream by forcing the water to turn, using stones or posts driven into the water. If you have the ability to build a bridge, you have some ability to change the direction of the water. In a floodplain or alluvial fan, all of the land is sediment from the river, which means that at flood stage the river has been everywhere and during a flood, or over geologic time periods, the banks of the river can shift. Oxbow lakes are old bends in the river that straightened themselves out. In theory, if you had a city that was built beside the new banks of a river, you could go upstream and rechannel the river to an old course, either to expand the city or for nefarious purposes. Also Babylon is, I think, a weird case anyway. If you look at a map of the Fertile Crescent, you see that the Euphrates forks, and it forks a LOT. And Babylon is located between two of the outer forks. Convincing a river that forks to chose another fork might just require some megalithic technology - throw some big rocks in until the flow rate slows rather than stops, and evaporation takes care of some of the rest. Or a phalanx of pilons all driven into the shadow of the next one up river (think geese in flight), which is how you divert a stream. Even if the river doesn't stop, it might not have enough clear water in it to sustain a city under siege. Especially if you can get them to surrender before the next rainy season washes away all your hydraulic engineering.

by Naga 5y ago

simmerup 5y ago

Thanks that makes sense

hinkley 5y ago

If you plan to take the city, you have to break it without causing it to destroy itself. Water where it's not supposed to be can flood. It can undermine footings and destroy massive structures including itself. If you want to destroy a fort you might throw a dead animal in the well. If you plant to keep the fort, that would be a titanically stupid idea. You can cut off food supply and restore it the moment your flag is flying. Hell, you can stand the wagons on a hilltop as part of negotiating a surrender. How do you divert a river and put it back on demand, with not even medieval technology?

LaMarseillaise 5y ago
> How do you divert a river and put it back on demand, with not even medieval technology? Now I am wondering how Kurus handled this situation after he took Babylon.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
  I wonder if that was actually a myth to hide the fact that he had inside collaboraters. The priests of Marduk in Babylon hated Nabonidis due to his abandonment of Marduk worship and making another city his headquarters. It may have been more acceptable to the population to tell them that the Persians diverted a river at night and entered rather than saying the gates were opened by insiders.
- hinkley 5y ago
  Floodplains are weird, for one thing. On a small scale you can improve a stream by forcing the water to turn, using stones or posts driven into the water. If you have the ability to build a bridge, you have some ability to change the direction of the water. In a floodplain or alluvial fan, all of the land is sediment from the river, which means that at flood stage the river has been everywhere and during a flood, or over geologic time periods, the banks of the river can shift. Oxbow lakes are old bends in the river that straightened themselves out. In theory, if you had a city that was built beside the new banks of a river, you could go upstream and rechannel the river to an old course, either to expand the city or for nefarious purposes. Also Babylon is, I think, a weird case anyway. If you look at a map of the Fertile Crescent, you see that the Euphrates forks, and it forks a LOT. And Babylon is located between two of the outer forks. Convincing a river that forks to chose another fork might just require some megalithic technology - throw some big rocks in until the flow rate slows rather than stops, and evaporation takes care of some of the rest. Or a phalanx of pilons all driven into the shadow of the next one up river (think geese in flight), which is how you divert a stream. Even if the river doesn't stop, it might not have enough clear water in it to sustain a city under siege. Especially if you can get them to surrender before the next rainy season washes away all your hydraulic engineering.