How Besieged Castles Defended Themselves: 15 Methods

Stones, hot sand, boiling pitch, Greek fire and even bees. In this video we break down 15 ways the besieged defended castles and cities, with one historical case for each: from Tyre and Plataea to Belgrade and Gibraltar. Where there is only one source or the story rests on legend, we say so. Sources mentioned in the video: Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Josephus, Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, Julius Caesar, Herodian, Cassius Dio, Procopius of Caesarea, Theophanes the Confessor, Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland.