All language subtitles for Ancient Top 10 Series 1 9of9 Ancient Sieges 720p

male narrator: This week
on "Ancient Top 10,"

a mighty Roman siege tower

the size
of the Statue of Liberty

unleashed
against a mountain fortress.

- It's clear that the Romans

were going to stop at nothing
to win this.

narrator: The greatest city
of the ancient world

overrun by barbarians.

- The Romans enslaved
entire cultures.

They slaughtered hundreds
of thousands of people.

But now
they're on the receiving end.

How are they gonna handle that?

narrator:
A brutal, violent siege

that ended
in human cannibalism.

- First they ate their horses,
then their camels,

and eventually they resorted
to eating each other.

narrator: And the ultimate
devious siege weapon,

which shows you should never
look a gift horse in the mouth.

- 40 feet high, 50 feet long,

and inside, 40 Greek soldiers
ready to pounce.

narrator:
Where will they be ranked

on the only top ten list

thousands of years
in the making?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Cities and fortresses
were the power bases

of the ancient world.

They attracted wealth
and prosperity

but were also a target.

♪ ♪

Enemies would do anything
to take them,

and the most effective way
to do that was through sieges--

surrounding the cities
and cutting off their supplies.

- As long as we've had cities
and fortresses,

we've had siege warfare.

The defenders
have to wait it out.

The attackers have to find a way
to starve them, thirst them,

or just make them give up.

narrator: This week
on "Ancient Top 10,"

it's ancient sieges...

ranked according
to the devastation caused.

[rock music]

Standing tall at number ten

is the siege of a formidable
fortress in the sky...

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

The Roman siege of Masada.

- When we're talking about
top ten sieges of all time,

Masada has to be in there.

You can't even argue with that.

narrator: This is Masada,

an isolated mountain fortress
in Israel.

♪ ♪

In 72 AD, Jewish rebels
known as the Sicarii

had revolted
against Roman rule.

The Romans were determined

to stamp out the rebellion
for good.

♪ ♪

The Sicarii had taken refuge
here at Masada,

which they thought
was impregnable.

- Masada is a superfortress.

The Sicarii had seized it,

and they were using it
against the Romans.

narrator: The Sicarii were
well stocked

with food and provisions.

And, crucially,
they had their own cistern

built into the mountain,

so they had all the fresh water
they needed.

- A fortress
on top of a plateau

is a very difficult target
to take.

A fortress on top of a plateau
that had its own water supply,

its own food supply,

and an ability
to wait out a fight

was really difficult.

The Romans had their work
cut out for them.

narrator: The only way
up to Masada

was by a steep, narrow path.

That would mean
that the 10,000 Romans

could only attack single file,

making it too easy for
the defenders to pick them off.

But the Romans were prepared
to do whatever it takes.

In just a few days, they built
a wall five miles long

all around the mountain.

Now nothing could get in
or out.

Their next move
was even more extraordinary.

- Imagine you're one of
the Jewish rebels

up on that hilltop of Masada.

You've seen the Romans
construct a huge wall

trapping you inside.

And then they start to build
a ramp.

♪ ♪

- The Romans are smart
about this.

All around the plateau,
it's 400 feet to the top,

except for one point,
it's only 240 feet.

And that's where they start
to build.

- It's actually hard
to get your head around

how massive the Masada ramp is.

It's 650 feet long,

it's 240 feet high,

and it means that the soldiers
and the slaves who built it

had to shift
half a million tons of earth.

narrator: In just two months,
by muscle power alone,

they moved
the equivalent weight

of 1 1/2
Empire State Buildings.

The ramp was so solid
that nearly 2,000 years later,

it's still a part
of the landscape.

- Today we're quite fond of
the phrase "move any mountain"

to talk about getting something
done at all costs.

Well, the Romans did just that.

And I don't think there's
any greater demonstration

of Roman intelligence, tenacity,
and just refusal to say no.

♪ ♪

narrator: This was

an incredible
engineering achievement.

But the Romans still needed
to storm the fortress.

- Once the ramp was completed,

the Romans brought out
a siege tower.

[dramatic music]

It was high enough
to scale the walls,

it had a battering ram
to break through walls,

it had catapults
and artillery weapons,

and it was armor-plated.

- The siege tower
was about 90 feet high.

That's almost the height
of the Statue of Liberty.

Now, up above, the Jewish rebels
think they're safe.

Now they see this big, massive
tower of death

slowly making their way
towards them.

It would have been
a terrifying sight.

[men yelling]

narrator: Hundreds of soldiers
pushed this vast tower

up the steep ramp
and into position.

At last they were able
to storm the walls

of this seemingly impregnable
fortress

and take Masada by force.

- But when they got to the top,

they couldn't see a single
defender in front of them.

The Jewish rebels
had already taken care of that

and committed suicide.

So basically they robbed
the Romans of victory

by taking their own lives.

♪ ♪

narrator: Despite months
of defending Masada,

the Sicarii's resistance
proved futile.

Nothing could stand in the way
of the Roman war machine.

♪ ♪

But 400 years before the Romans
moved a mountain,

Alexander the Great topped this
by turning the sea into land.

♪ ♪

At number nine...

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

It's the siege of Tyre.

- No matter the topic,
no matter the list,

if we're dealing
with ancient military history,

Alexander the Great
is gonna show up.

narrator:
In the fourth century BC,

Alexander the Great
was on the rampage.

He had taken control
over all of Greece.

Next in his sights were Persia
and the kingdoms of the East.

[men yell]

But there was one
island fortress in his way:

the Phoenician city of Tyre,

on the coast
of modern-day Lebanon.

- Alexander the Great
is acclaimed to be

one of the greatest
military leaders of all time.

But when he tried to attack
the naval base of Tyre,

things went badly wrong
for him.

And if you could make Alexander
look like an amateur,

you deserve your place
in the top ten.

narrator: Alexander's
first move

was to send in diplomats to
negotiate the city's surrender.

♪ ♪

- The Phoenician response
was to take the entire team

and throw them
off the 200-foot city walls.

Needless to say, Alexander
did not take kindly to this.

narrator: He decided to take
the city by force.

But Alexander didn't have
a navy,

so how could he lay siege
to an island city

half a mile from the mainland?

[music intensifies]

Simple: he changed the sea
into land.

- Alexander demanded a causeway
to be built

to get across the water,
and in a brilliant move,

he had the landside buildings
destroyed

to build this causeway.

It was 3,000 feet long
and 200 feet wide.

- The people, they can see it.

It's coming towards them
day by day by day.

And at the head of it,
huge siege towers.

The people of Tyre,
they need an answer,

and they need it fast.

[rock music]

narrator: The answer they
came up with

was devastating.

It was a revolutionary
military weapon.

- A fireship.
They built a fireship.

And it had cauldrons filled with
a secret explosive liquid.

They crashed it
into the causeway,

and it exploded
in a 500-foot fireball.

narrator: The Phoenicians
had the first recorded use

of a fireship in history.

- The sea was on fire,
and those huge siege towers

crammed with soldiers
were all consumed.

Alexander's men
were jumping into the sea

to escape the flames,
but there was no escape,

because the sea itself
was on fire.

For the Greeks,
it would have been Armageddon.

[dramatic music]

narrator: Alexander had more
than his fingers burnt.

His reputation
as a great general

was also in danger
of going up in flames.

Could this tiny city
defend itself

against the might of history's
greatest leader?

Find out on "Ancient Top 10."

[dramatic percussive music]

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
"Ancient Top 10"'s countdown

of ancient sieges, ranked by
the devastation caused.

[man yells]

And we're at number nine.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great
was besieging

the Phoenician island city
of Tyre in the Mediterranean.

But his strategy to attack

by sending mighty siege towers
across a manmade causeway

had been shot down in flames

by the Phoenicians'
explosive fireship.

Alexander had no navy
of his own at hand,

so he called upon his allies
and assembled a naval force

capable of mounting an attack
by sea.

♪ ♪

Alexander brought his ships
right up to the city walls

and pounded them
with battering rams.

♪ ♪

- The siege of Tyre
took Alexander months--

months of battering,
hammering, and building.

So when he got inside the city,
you can bet he was angry.

- Now, if you are going to
resist Alexander the Great

and burn his men alive,
you better not lose.

- 6,000 are immediately killed,
and 2,000 were crucified.

The women and children
were spared,

but they were sold off
to slavery.

This was brutal.

narrator: Now master
of both land and sea,

he rampaged through Persia,

going on to create one of
the world's largest empires.

Undefeated in battle,
history remembers him

as one of the most successful
generals

the world has ever seen.

♪ ♪

Next in our countdown, another
David-versus-Goliath battle.

Could the ancient world's
greatest inventor

really have created a death ray

and a steam cannon

hundreds of years before
the discovery of gunpowder?

[dramatic music]

At number eight...

♪ ♪

The siege of Syracuse.

In the third century BC,

the kingdom of Syracuse
on the island of Sicily

faced a new, terrifying threat.

- Syracuse is in the path
of an expanding Roman empire,

an empire that's gobbling up
every city-state and country

in the Mediterranean.

Rome is bringing with them
a professional army

and 60 state-of-the-art
warships.

Syracuse is being attacked by
the world's leading superpower.

narrator: Syracuse was seen
as an easy target.

But the Romans were in
for a shock.

- Syracuse had a secret weapon:

a man, a genius
called Archimedes.

narrator: Archimedes
was a scientist

who invented
terrifying new weapons

that could be used
against the Romans.

From the city walls,

the Archimedes Claw
grabbed enemy ships

and wrenched them
from the water.

[crash]

A team of men could lift
a 60-ton ship with it.

And this wasn't even
the most extraordinary

of his inventions.

- There's a story

that Archimedes actually
invented a cannon

that fired projectiles
only powered by steam.

Now, if that's true,
it means it pre-dates

any other kind of cannon
by hundreds of years.

narrator: Confident
in their defenses,

the Syracusians became
complacent,

giving the Romans the perfect
opportunity to attack.

- When the Romans finallyre
break through,

they've seen so many
of their fellow soldiers killed

by Archimedes'
incredible inventions,

they're furious
and they go on a killing spree,

resulting in 10,000 people dead.

And the ones that survived
were sold off into slavery.

- That's combat.
Those are the rules of battle.

When you win, you win.

narrator: But the Romans
weren't content

with taking just the city.

They wanted to capture
the mastermind

behind the super-advanced
weapons.

- The soldiers were told

to find and capture Archimedes
alive.

Archimedes was at home,

and he was so busy working
on a mathematical problem

that when soldiers burst
into his home,

he didn't say who he was;

he told them to get out
because he was busy

and didn't want to be disturbed,

which meant that they
slaughtered him on the spot,

and it meant that we lost
one of the greatest minds

that the ancient world
ever gave us.

♪ ♪

- Now, we don't know
if Archimedes' weapons

had more of a psychological
or physical impact,

maybe a combination of both.

The point is, they gave Syracuse
such a leg up in this fight

that it gets
on our top ten list.

narrator: From weapons
of science fiction

to mass crucifixion.

The next siege on our list

turns a holy city
into a genocidal wasteland.

At number seven...

[dramatic music]

The Roman siege of Jerusalem.

- The Romans could be
your best friends

or your worst enemies,

and you didn't want to be
on the wrong side of them,

because you could expect
an extreme response,

a response like genocide,

and that's exactly what happened
in Jerusalem.

[people yelling]

narrator: It was one of the
bloodiest sieges in history.

But what gruesome end
would come

to those who crossed
the Romans?

It's coming up
on "Ancient Top 10."

[dramatic percussive music]

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
"Ancient Top 10"'s

"Greatest Sieges
of the Ancient World,"

and we're at number seven...

[dramatic music]

The Roman siege of Jerusalem.

[low music]

In 66 AD, Jerusalem
was under Roman rule.

But there was growing anger

about the occupation
of the city.

- Jerusalem is a powder keg
waiting to explode,

and when the Roman governor
raids the Jewish temple

for silver--
and it's their most holy place--

all hell breaks loose.

narrator: The governor
of Jerusalem

had been ordered
to seize the silver

by Emperor Nero
to help fund his greed.

- [crying]

narrator: This triggered
a rebellion

that lasted four years

and led to the siege
of the city

by Roman general Titus
in 70 AD.

[dramatic music]

After gathering troops
and weapons,

he started his assault
at the city walls.

♪ ♪

- Some of the stone throwers
the Romans were using

to attack Jerusalem
are 40 feet high

and can throw boulders
up to 100 pounds.

They mean business.

- This was a showcase of Roman
engineering and military might,

and it only took them a few days
to break through.

♪ ♪

narrator: The Jewish rebels
retreated,

taking refuge in the temple
and its surrounding streets.

- Titus knows that fighting
in a built-up area

is the easiest way
to lose thousands of troops.

So Titus has enough.

He steps back,
builds a wall around them,

and waits for them to starve.

- The key principle of a siege
is to trap your enemy

inside a small place
and then wait.

You wait for them to starve.

You wait for them to get sick.

You wait for them to become
so desperate

that they become
a very, very weak enemy.

narrator: And starve they did.

- They were forced
to eat anything they could--

rubbish, leather.

There are even accounts

that people were forced to eat
their own children.

narrator: After waiting
outside the walls,

Titus then went in
to finish the job.

- When the Romans finally
break through into Jerusalem,

they're in a bloodlust.

They set fire
to the main temple

and go on a killing spree.

narrator: It's thought
that up to 30,000 were killed

in the slaughter.

- Anyone who tried
to escape the siege

was caught and crucified.

It was said that about
500 crucifixions a day

were taking place,

and the Roman soldiers got
so bored of nailing people up

that they started
to nail them up

in different postures
just to entertain themselves.

The other story

is that they eventually had
to stop crucifying people

because they ran out of wood
to nail them to.

narrator: The holy temple
was so thoroughly destroyed

that only one wall,
the Wailing Wall,

still stands today,

so called
because people came here

to mourn
the temple's destruction.

Nothing was left behind.

- Jerusalem's temples were
stripped of all their treasure.

narrator: And the Romans
honored

their victorious general
with the Arch of Titus,

which still stands in Rome
today.

But in our next siege,

could ancient napalm
save an entire city?

[dramatic music]

Coming in at number six,

the Arab siege
of Constantinople.

- Constantinople,
which we know as Istanbul

in modern-day Turkey,

was really the jewel
of the East,

the gateway to the East,

and the seat of power
for Eastern Christendom.

Everybody in that area
wanted it.

Everybody in that area
would do anything to get it.

narrator: Back
in the 4th century AD,

Constantinople became the
capital of the Roman Empire,

making it the greatest power
in the world.

♪ ♪

It was protected by some of
the best fortifications

in the ancient world--

not one wall but a double wall

up to 40 feet high
and 12 feet thick.

[percussive music]

But in 717 AD, the city faced
its greatest challenge.

A massive Arab invasion force
was attacking Constantinople

by both sea and land.

[army yelling]

- The troops of Constantinople
were outnumbered ten to one,

but they use guerrilla warfare
and they raid the Arab lines,

taking supplies as they need.

And when the Arab relief ships
show up,

out comes the wildfire.

narrator: Wildfire,
Constantinople's secret weapon,

also known as Greek fire.

It was a liquid inferno,
so effective

because it couldn't be
extinguished by water.

Its ingredients were top secret
and are still a mystery today.

- Accounts of Greek fire show

that it was the ultimate weapon
of terror,

a liquid that could burn
on water.

It would be shot by a jet
to about 150 feet,

accompanied by smoke
and the sounds of thunder.

It would have been
absolutely terrifying.

narrator: Ancient writings
describe it

destroying the Arab ships.

♪ ♪

And it was followed by
the collapse of the land army.

- The winter
was particularly brutal,

and the Arabs ran out of food.

First they ate their horses,
then their camels,

and eventually they resorted
to eating each other.

[men shouting]

- The Arabs arrived
at Constantinople

with an estimated 210,000 men
and 2,500 ships.

But the defense
of Constantinople

was so great and so ferocious

that the Arabs were forced
to admit defeat

and only went home with
30,000 men and just 5 ships.

narrator: That's one of
the highest loss rates

of any battle in history.

♪ ♪

- The Arab siege
of Constantinople

was one of the most crucial
moments in Western history.

If Constantinople had fallen,

the world as we know it would be
completely different.

narrator: Constantinople
was saved.

Islamic expansion into Europe
was stopped

for almost a millennium, with
Europe remaining Christian.

♪ ♪

Coming up,
an ancient blitzkrieg.

How would the world's
most bloodthirsty army

destroy hundreds of years
of human knowledge?

[dramatic percussive music]

[rock music]

narrator: We're now halfway
through our historic list

of the greatest sieges
of the ancient world.

♪ ♪

At number ten

was the extraordinary
Roman siege of Masada.

Number nine was Alexander
the Great's takeover of Tyre.

At number eight, the Romans
against Archimedes at Syracuse.

And number seven,
the brutal attack on Jerusalem.

At number six was the Arab
siege of Constantinople.

But now
we're into the top five,

and it's the finest hour
of the greatest Roman.

[dramatic music]

The siege of Alesia,
led by Julius Caesar.

- Julius Caesar is one of
the greatest generals,

and the siege of Alesia,
it's one his greatest moments.

He's bold and audacious
and thinking the unthinkable.

narrator: It's 52 BC,
and Julius Caesar

is on a mission to bring Gaul,
what is modern France,

under Roman control.

But the Gaul leader the great
warrior king Vercingetorix

is determined to stop him.

He and his men take up position

in an impregnable hill fort
in the town of Alesia.

- 80,000 Gauls,
armed to the teeth,

dying to take on the Romans.

They're ready for a fight.

narrator: Caesar's troops
arrive at Alesia,

and so Vercingetorix sends word
for aid.

A huge army of reinforcements
are on the way

to join the Gauls.

Caesar will be outnumbered
four to one.

- Most generals in this position
would turn and flee,

but Caesar decides
to stay and fight.

He orders one of the greatest
siegeworks in history.

Caesar's troops dig a trench

all the way
around the Gaul stronghold.

This trench is 20 foot deep
and 25 miles long.

[low music]

narrator: Then they build their
own walled fortification--

one wall to surround
the Gauls inside the hill fort,

and a second, outer wall
is to protect Caesar's men

from the approaching army
of reinforcements

called in by Vercingetorix.

Caesar lays in wait
in the area between the walls.

♪ ♪

- Assaulting
a fortified position,

that's the most deadly part
of siege warfare.

So what does Caesar do?

He turns it around.

He gives his enemies no choice

but to assault his own
fortified positions.

That is total genius.

narrator: Just as Caesar
predicted, the Gauls attack,

but they're no match
for the well-defended Romans.

- In total, the Gauls lose
90,000 men to Caesar's 12,000.

This is a crushing defeat
for the Gauls.

narrator: Victory
at this incredible siege

allowed Caesar to conquer
the rest of Gaul,

what is now France,

and the Roman Empire spread
across Europe.

From military genius
to monstrous brutality.

Next in our countdown,

the horsemen of the apocalypse
are at the gates.

[dramatic music]

It's the Mongol siege
of Baghdad.

- The Mongols are coming.

They're coming
for the Middle East,

a frightening prospect.

They are unparalleled
in their ferocity.

narrator: In 1258 AD,
the Mongols were

one of the ancient world's most
ruthless and efficient armies.

They had already conquered
China and much of Asia.

♪ ♪

Their target now?

The center
of the Islamic empire, Baghdad,

a great cultural center
of learning.

- Baghdad should be
pretty well defended.

Its walls are formidable.

They're 150 feet thick,
100 feet high.

The four city gates
are made of iron,

and each takes 30 men
just to close them.

narrator: Baghdad refuses
to submit.

But they have severely
underestimated the Mongols.

- The Mongols
have conquered Asia,

and through diplomacy, fear,
and conscription,

they've created an army
of 200,000 soldiers.

narrator: They're armed

with state-of-the-art
siege technology

from their conquered enemies,

such as trebuchets,
capable of throwing projectiles

from over a quarter
of a mile away.

After six days of constant
barrages and attacks,

the city's defenses
were breached.

- When the Mongols finally
entered the city of Baghdad,

there was a week of pillaging.

narrator: Ancient reports claim

that up to a staggering
one million people

were slaughtered
within the city walls.

[people screaming]

- The smell of death
from Baghdad was so bad,

the Mongols actually had to move
their entire camp upwind.

- As well as slaughtering
thousands, they committed

one of the greatest cultural
atrocities in history.

They destroyed
the Baghdad library,

which once held
the greatest collection of books

in the world.

And it was said
that so many books

were thrown into the river

that the waters ran black
with ink.

narrator: Priceless texts
and centuries of knowledge

lost forever.

We can only wonder what
the world would have been like

if it wasn't
for this brutal siege.

Coming up, how could a horde
of barbarians

take down the greatest empire
in the ancient world?

And hold your horses.

The most cunning siege
of all time.

[dramatic percussive music]

narrator: The greatest sieges

have changed the course
of history.

They have determined the fate
of empires.

It's time for the top three
in our list of ancient sieges,

ranked by devastation caused.

And at number three,
the greatest military power

now gets a taste
of its own medicine.

[dramatic music]

The siege of Rome.

- The Romans enslaved
entire cultures.

They slaughtered
hundreds of thousands of people.

But now it's Rome
that's under siege.

They're on the receiving end.

How are they going
to handle that?

narrator: By 408 AD,

the Roman Empire
had grown so large,

Constantinople ruled
over the eastern half,

while Rome remained the capital
of the western empire.

It was simply unthinkable
for it to fall.

But it was under threat
from the Barbarian king Alaric,

who wanted its land, power,
and money.

Together with his
Germanic tribe, the Visigoths,

he marched on the city.

♪ ♪

- The walls of Rome--

50 feet high, 11 feet thick,
and a circuit of 12 miles.

The Romans thought
they were impregnable.

But the Visigoths have a plan.

- They turned Roman engineering
against itself.

They cut off the aqueducts.

They cut off the water supply.

They stopped food
coming into the city,

so the once great city of Rome
was slowly starving to death.

narrator: Rome had bought
itself peace...for now.

But two years later,
Alaric went back for more.

The Visigoths storm
into the city.

They steal anything
and everything of value.

In its 800-year history,
the city of Rome

had never fallen to an enemy
until now.

- That sent shock waves right
across the Mediterranean world.

What you're really seeing here

is the beginning of the end
of Western Rome.

narrator:
The Western Roman Empire fell,

Europe was plunged
into the Dark Ages,

and such culture
and civilization

wasn't seen again
for 1,000 years.

But that was nothing compared
to our next epic siege.

Ancient black ops,

the ultimate
infiltration mission

thousands of years ago.

At number two,
beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

[dramatic music]

[percussive music]

The siege of Troy.

- There are several ways
to end a siege.

The first is a frontal assault,
which is gonna cost you a lot.

You could also starve them out.

The final option
is to use deception,

which is exactly
what the Greeks did.

narrator: And the greatest
deception of all time,

devised by the Greeks
to win the siege of Troy.

- The story
of the siege of Troy

is one of the greatest stories
on Earth.

And this is a story
that was never forgotten.

narrator: The siege of Troy was
always thought to be a myth.

But in the 1870s,

archaeologists uncovered
a city in Turkey

which is now widely accepted
to be the location

of ancient Troy.

Subsequent evidence has shown

there was a great battle
and destruction,

meaning that the epic tale
could be true.

[rock music]

According to the story, Helen,
a beautiful Greek queen,

was abducted by Paris,
a prince of Troy.

The Greeks mount a rescue

with a fleet
of more than 1,000 ships.

But when they arrive at Troy,

they find its walls
are impregnable.

- The Greeks have no way
to take the city,

and the Trojans don't have
enough guys

to go out and crush the Greeks,

so what we end up having
is this stand-off,

and it lasts for ten years.

narrator: Eventually,
the Greeks retreat,

leaving only a large
wooden horse outside the city.

But it was all a deception.

- The Trojan horse is arguably

the most famous siege machine
in all of history--

50 feet long, 40 feet high,

and inside, 40 Greek soldiers
ready to pounce.

- The mental toughness
of these guys

must have been incredible.

It's like a modern soldier
on a black op in a helicopter.

These guys,
they were ancient Navy SEALs.

♪ ♪

narrator: Thinking the Greeks
had given up and gone home

and left the giant horse
as an offering to their gods,

the Trojans wheeled the gift
into the city.

Perhaps they could benefit from
offering it to their own gods.

♪ ♪

After patiently waiting
for the cover of night,

the Greek commandos crept out,
killed the Trojan guards,

and waited
for the rest of their army,

who had sailed back in secret.

- The Greeks come back,

and their commandos
let them in at the gates.

The Trojans are exterminated,

and the city of Troy
is destroyed.

narrator: The siege and the
abduction of the Greek queen

are over,
ended by the Trojan Horse,

a deception so ingenious that
we still talk about it today.

[people screaming]

Coming up, the apocalypse
of the ancient world.

What superpower was wiped
off the face of the planet

in our number one
most devastating ancient siege?

[dramatic percussive music]

narrator: The most devastating
sieges of the ancient world.

This is "Ancient Top 10"'s
historic countdown,

and we've seen some brutal and
world-changing military sieges.

At number ten was the breach

of the impregnable
Masada fortress.

At number nine,
Alexander's conquest of Tyre.

Number eight was
the Roman siege of Syracuse.

And at number seven,
mass slaughter in Jerusalem.

At number six, hellfire
at the siege of Constantinople.

And at number five, the genius
of Julius Caesar at Alesia.

Number four was the horrific
siege of Baghdad by the Mongols

and number three
the sacking of Rome.

And at number two,

the deviousness of the Greeks
at Troy.

But there's one siege

more devastating
than all the rest,

an ancient apocalypse

that ended in complete
destruction of a city

and brought down an empire.

The number one most devastating
ancient siege...

[triumphant music]

The Roman siege of Carthage.

- This siege deserves to be
at the top of the list,

because during it,
an ancient superpower

was wiped off the face
of the Earth.

narrator: For much
of the first millennium BC,

the Carthaginian Empire
dominated the Mediterranean.

They had
the world's greatest navy

operating from their base
in Carthage,

on the coast of North Africa.

But they had a rival
across the sea, Rome.

Rome had conquered Italy and
the strategic port of Syracuse

and wanted to take the entire
Mediterranean for themselves.

[sweeping music]

But Carthage stood
in their way.

♪ ♪

- Rome versus Carthage--

bound to clash,
but neither giving up

until the other has been reduced
to ashes.

narrator: After over 100 years
of brutal wars and conflicts

between these two great powers,

Rome had gained the upper hand,

and they eventually bring
the fight

to the city of Carthage itself.

They demanded
complete surrender.

- In 149 BC,
80,000 Romans troops arrive

and tell the horrified
population to open their gates.

They refuse, and the siege
of Carthage begins.

[rock music]

- Carthage was protected
by 23 miles of wall.

Now, to put that in perspective,

at that time, Rome was only
protected by five miles.

narrator:
These 45-feet-high walls

made Carthage
the best-fortified city

in the world at the time.

[dramatic music]

They were so large that 20,000
Carthaginian soldiers

lived inside them
along with 300 war elephants.

[elephant trumpets]

The city itself was transformed
into a giant arms factory.

Every citizen was called upon,

women even giving up their hair
to make rope for catapults.

♪ ♪

In a matter of months,
they created a huge arsenal

to defend their city with.

They hold strong
for three years,

but finally
the Romans break through.

♪ ♪

- Now, Carthage is the size
of Manhattan,

but it's very densely built,

and so 500,000 people are
packed into that space.

And so the Romans,
at every turn,

are fighting people
desperate for their lives.

There is no front line.

This is siege warfare on
a completely different level--

brutal, ruthless,
with everybody involved.

♪ ♪

narrator: It takes the Romans
seven days

to wrestle control of the city.

Then the order is given:

"Destroy it."

- Carthage burns for 17 days.

The heat is so intense,
it consumes buildings

and sucks people
into the inferno.

This isn't war;
this is genocide.

And the Romans aren't here
just to kill the Carthaginians;

they are here to eradicate
their memory.

[soft music]

- And of Carthage's population
of half a million,

only 50,000 remain,

and they're sold
into a bitter life of slavery.

narrator: The death
or enslavement

of the entire population,
a city levelled.

Carthage no longer existed.

It was total annihilation.

Because of victory
at this siege,

Rome becomes the dominant power
for centuries to come.

♪ ♪

They went on to influence
our modern world

more than any other
ancient civilization.

- The Roman siege of Carthage
has to be number one--

the total ruthlessness,
the total destruction.

This was an epic clash
of Western civilization

and determined the history
of the West.

[dramatic musical flourish]

[intense percussive music]

narrator: The mega sieges
of ancient times

caused mass destruction

and the annihilation
of millions.

♪ ♪

Magnificent ancient cities
and entire populations

were devastated.

[people yelling]

They changed the course
of history,

and the success or failure
of those sieges

has shaped the world
as we know it today.