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Specialized arrowheads for carrying incendiary material, Roman Empire, 1st-2nd century AD?
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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Historical Artifacts
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Is that historically accurate or just a legend?
There's some dispute over it. The 'tying brands to birds' trick is noted as a strategy by a handful of other historical figures noted for their ruthlessness - it's not entirely clear whether it's just terror propaganda or an actual technique that was used.
I just don't see how that would work in practice. But then, I've never besieged a city, so what do I know.
I mean, the panicked animals returning to their usual haunts seems plausible. The intention of setting the place on fire is to spread chaos internally before/during a traditional assault on the walls. Generally there's an element of deception and bad faith in the stories, that the animals were requested as tribute for peace and then immediately deployed as a weapon of war.