Spring and summer 219 BC
The first assaults
Livy writes that Hannibal lays waste the country around the town and attacks it from three sides. His main effort is against a corner of the wall that faces more level, open ground than the rest, where he brings up sheds to cover his battering rams. A strong tower stands at that corner, and the defenders make sorties from it against the siege works.
The castle and citadel on the ridge of SaguntoWikimedia Commons, Pieter van Everdingen, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Sagunto - Castle & Citadel - 20200225 PvE (Q2892716).jpg)
Approaching the wall too closely, Hannibal is badly wounded in the thigh by a heavy javelin. The assaults stop for some weeks while he recovers, and the town is kept under blockade.
Sources
- Livy, History of Rome, book 21, 7 to 8.
- Polybius, Histories, book 3, 17.
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