• PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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    2 months ago

    Fun Fact! Julius Caesar, of dictator and conqueror fame, highly praised these Gallic-made walls as being resistant to siege weapons. Respect from a foe!

    This work, with respect to appearance and variety, is not unsightly, owing to the alternate rows of beams and stones, which preserve their order in right lines; and, besides, it possesses great advantages as regards utility and the defense of cities; for the stone protects it from fire, and the wood from the battering ram, since it [the wood] being mortised in the inside with rows of beams, generally forty feet each in length, can neither be broken through nor torn asunder.

    • Pommes_für_dein_Balg@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      Caesar had good reason to hype up the Gallic defenses, since he beat them. Writing about how good they were was meant to increase his own game.

      • PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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        2 months ago

        Certainly true!

        Even so, his praise of Gallic craftsmanship and cunning offers us rare and valuable insight into details about ‘barbarians’ other ‘civilized’ authors of the time considered too trivial or mundane to mention, many of which have been backed by archeological evidence - Gallic wall construction included!