HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.
Book I.
7 -2
Such gates were defended with more ease from their being recessed ; at Norma we haveanother example (Jig- 76.), which shows more perfectly the method adopted by the Greeksto annoy an enemy whilst attacking them.
NORMA.
The Scasan Gate had an advanced mole or wall, carried out for some distance on the lefthand on coming out, which was used by the military or guard for the discharge of mis-siles against those who were attempting to enter without permission. The reason assignedfor the left side being preferred, was, that an attacking party would cover their left sideswith their shields, and hold their spears in their right hand, which would present to thebesieged the only uncovered part that was assailable ; consequently, by this arrangement,the right side of the attacking troops became open to the weapons of the besieged, and thedarts or projectiles from the wall in advance could be brought fully to bear against themost vulnerable parts of the besiegers.
Delos exhibits an arched gallery, already described, of the same construction as that inthe wall of Tiryns, and among the towns in Greece are found many subterraneous passages,like that mentioned by Strabo as existing at Preneste, which was underground, and servedusually the purposes of a sewer, conveying the water from the city into a deep valley, andat other times for a sally port.
These galleries or passages were cut in the rock, sometimes in the natural soil, and oftenmined or excavated like a tunnel through the neighbouring country.
Another description of wall which surrounded the cities of Greece showed an im-provement in construction : th«‘se had the courses of stone or marble laid in a more regularmanner ; and to which were added towers of a square, circular, or polygonal form, placed atregular distances. Such were those at Argos, Messene . (Sec Jig. 78.)
Messene was a city at the foot of Mount Ithome, and celebrated for the wars carriedon by its inhabitants against the Spartans, about 700 years before the Christian era. TheThebans, who under Epaminondas defeated the Spartans abovt 370 years before Christ,are supposed to have constructed the walls and towers of this city, which remain. Epami-nondas, according to Pausanias, being assured that the site of Messene was admirablyadapted for a city, desired that the Augurs might be consulted on the subject; andfavourable omens being obtained, he commenced the foundations, and ordered the stoneto be brought from the neighbouring hills. 'Hie Gulph of Messene lies a little distancefrom the city on the south; to the west spreads Arcadia; and Ithome rises above theplain with Mount Eva to the south. On the top of Ithome are the remains of the citadel.
After the numerous defeats which the Messenians sustained in their contests with theSpartans, Pausanias informs us, they abandoned their other fortified cities, and retired toIthome, which Homer alludes to —
And those that on the steep Ithome dwell.
They increased the citadel, and rendered it, by several engineering works practised on thesteep rocks, difficult of access. From this place they sent messengers in their distress toDelphos to inquire of the oracle what they were next to do, when they were ordered tosacrifice a pure virgin to the infernal demons. All their efforts, however, were useless in the