Cool model of Roman siege works at Avaricum

[G-Manicus]

Does anyone know where this picture comes from?

 

According to Wikipedia, the photograph is of a model of the siege of Avaricum at the museum of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

[Antiochus III]

What is the name of that one fortress that was taken by the Romans with a giant ramp in Judea around 70 A.D.? It is very large, with steep cliffs on almost all sides, and a thin pathway to the gate. I think I've seen it in a book, but I don't remember which, and won't be able to find it. It seemed like a pretty massive fort, though.

 

Antiochus III

[caldrail]

Masada. Herod the Great built it as a retreat and the zealots later used it for the same purpose against roman retribution. Having arrived and built a circumvallation of stone, the romans alsobrought in ten thousand slaves to build an earth siege ramp to assault the place and the various camps in the dry terrain required four hundred donkey loads of supplies a day. Ballistas were placed on stone pillars built into the ramp to keep the enemies heads down. The defenders knew the romans were going to get in and built an inner wall from timber and rubble, and it was a fairly robust effort at that. Once the romans found it, they attempted to burn it and it was almost a disaster because the flames were in danger of setting fire to thier siege equipment! A change of wind prevented that from happening. Famously one roman centurion who led an assault through the walls slipped on the stone floor because of his hob-nailed boots and was killed. Eventually the romans penetrated the inner defenses only to discover the zealots had committed mass suicide, apart from one woman and her children who'd hidden in a sewer.