Mark Serban
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The Siege of Syracuse
Archimedes paced impetuously around the spire containing his sprawling laboratory and the last hope for salvation for the beleaguered city. For nearly a month the Roman navy had sat impatiently in the waters just outside of Syracuse, bombarding the cities defenses with flaming balls of pitch, waiting for their time to land eager marines on scorched shores. The failure of the last siege nearly a year prior at the hands of Archimedes and his engineering prowess had left them both enraged and newly cautious. This time it would require considerably more than curved mirrors concentrating sunlight to light the Roman galleys aflame, each and every ship that choked the city was reinforced with flame resistant sails, treated wooden beams with iron bracings in addition to newly crafted long range onagers and ballistae. However, Archimedes had been preparing as well, building a tower at the highest point of the city overlooking the harbor and making his laborers swear an oath of secrecy about his new project. Not even the city council knew of his machinations, only that they were for the defense of the city and he was not to be disturbed nor deterred from its completion.
By Mark Serban3 years ago in Fiction