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61-641: A founding myth of Wu, first recorded by Sima Qian in the Han dynasty , traced its royal lineage to Taibo , a relative of King Wen of Zhou . According to the Records of the Grand Historian , Taibo was the oldest son of Gugong Danfu and the elder uncle of King Wen who started the Zhou dynasty. Gugong Danfu had three sons named Taibo, Zhongyong , and Jili . Taibo was the oldest of three brothers, Jili being

122-402: A cyclical return to a mythical age. As a result, nearly every sacred story portrays events that establish a new framework for human behavior, making them essentially stories of creation. An origin myth often functions to justify the current state of affairs. In traditional cultures, the entities and forces described in origin myths are often considered sacred. Thus, by attributing the state of

183-399: A rack and pinion to be moved effectively. It was manned by 200 soldiers and was divided into nine stories; the different levels housed various types of catapults and ballistae . Subsequent siege towers down through the centuries often had similar engines. However, large siege towers could be defeated by the defenders by flooding the ground in front of the wall, creating a moat that caused

244-626: A constant threat to the Chu Kingdom. Wu planted seeds of rebellion amongst Chu's vassals along the Yangtze valley. Wu Zixu , a highly influential Chu politician's father and brother was murdered by King Ping of Chu and fled to Wu plotting revenge. Wu Zixu later became a trusted advisor of Prince Guang and helped him assassinate his cousin King Liao of Wu and usurp the throne. After the successful assassination of King Liao, Prince Guang ascended

305-511: A cultural investment. In the Greek view, the mythic past had deep roots in historic time, its legends treated as facts, as Carlo Brillante has noted, its heroic protagonists seen as links between the "age of origins" and the mortal, everyday world that succeeded it. A modern translator of Apollonius of Rhodes ' Argonautica has noted, of the many aitia embedded as digressions in that Hellenistic epic, that "crucial to social stability had to be

366-810: A heroic model national origin myth, including the Hittites and Zhou dynasty in the Bronze Age; the Scythians , Wusun , Romans and Goguryeo in Antiquity ; Turks and Mongols during the Middle Ages; and the Dzungar Khanate in the late Renaissance . In the founding myth of the Zhou dynasty in China, Lady Yuan makes a ritual sacrifice to conceive, then becomes pregnant after stepping into

427-769: A military campaign in the north, Goujian enacted his revenge and launched a surprise attack on Wu in 482 BC and conquered the capital. Over the next decade, Wu was unable to recover and Yue absorbed the state in 473 BC. Wu, Yue, and Chu all proclaimed themselves kings in the 6th century BC, showing the drastic weakening of the Zhou court's authority during the Spring and Autumn period . Wu and Yue were masters of metallurgy, fabricating excellent swords with incised messages, geometric patterns, and inlaid gold or silver. Wu and Yue swords tend to use much more tin than copper compared to those of other states. Wu often sent swords as gifts to northern states, such as Qi and Cai . Examples include

488-399: A nation, a society, a culture, etc. Origin myths are narratives that explain how a particular reality came into existence. They often serve to justify the established order by attributing its establishment to sacred forces (see § Social function ). The line between cosmogonic myths which describe the origin of the world and origin myths is not always clear. A myth about the origin of

549-627: A number of other siege works, including ramps and battering rams . Centuries after they were employed in Assyria, the use of the siege tower spread throughout the Mediterranean . During the siege of Memphis in the 8th century BC, siege towers were built by Kush for the army led by Piye (founder of the Nubian 25th dynasty ), in order to enhance the efficiency of Kushite archers and slingers . After leaving Thebes, Piye's first objective

610-503: A particular detail in a ceremony, a Navaho chanter answered: "Because the Holy People did it that way in the first place." We find exactly the same justification in the prayer that accompanies a primitive Tibetan ritual: "As it has been handed down from the beginning of the earth’s creation, so must we sacrifice. … As our ancestors in ancient times did—so do we now." Founding myths unite people and tend to include mystical events along

671-482: A siege tower was near a wall, it would drop a gangplank between it and the wall. Troops could then rush onto the walls and into the castle or city. Some siege towers also had battering rams which they used to bash down the defensive walls around a city or a castle gate. In the First Intermediate Period tomb of General Intef at Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt ), a mobile siege tower is shown in

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732-497: A specific part of the world assumes the existence of the world itself, which often relies on a cosmogonic myth. Therefore, origin myths can be seen as expanding upon and building upon their cultures' cosmogonic myths. In traditional cultures, it is common for the recitation of an origin myth to be preceded by the recitation of a cosmogonic myth. Within academic circles, the term myth is often used specifically to refer to origin and cosmogonic myths. Folklorists, for example, reserve

793-491: A structure through its upper levels. These assault ladders are not as large or as tall as their predecessors, and are typically only capable of reaching roughly the third or fourth floor of a structure. On 1 March 2007, police officers entered Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen , Denmark using boom cranes in a manner similar to siege towers. The officers were placed in containers that the crane operators raised and placed against

854-408: Is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin. These stories aim to explain the origins of natural phenomena or human institutions within an already existing world. In Greco-Roman scholarship,

915-602: Is the collective name for the first five books of the Bible: Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers , and Deuteronomy . It forms the charter myth of Israel, the story of the people's origins and the foundations of their culture and institutions, and it is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the relationship between God and his chosen people was set out on Mount Sinai through the Torah, though many stories are adapted from older religions. A founding myth may serve as

976-604: The 25th dynasty . During classical antiquity they were common among Hellenistic Greek armies of the 4th century BC and later Roman armies of Europe and the Mediterranean, while also seeing use in ancient China during the Warring States Period and Han dynasty . Siege towers were of unwieldy dimensions and, like trebuchets , were therefore mostly constructed on site of the siege . Taking considerable time to construct, siege towers were mainly built if

1037-490: The Covenant of Mount Sinai . During the Middle Ages, founding myths of the medieval communes of northern Italy manifested the increasing self-confidence of the urban population and the will to find a Roman origin, however tenuous and legendary. In 13th-century Padua , when each commune looked for a Roman founder – and if one was not available, invented one—a legend had been current in the city, attributing its foundation to

1098-569: The State of Qi in 484 BC. King Helü of Wu is considered to be one of the Five Hegemons of China during the Spring and Autumn period due to his military successes at this time with the help of his famous commander/strategist Sun Tzu . Wu is also generally regarded as developing the first Chinese Navy. This navy was quite complex and had different classes of ships. Its "classes" of ships were

1159-891: The Ukrainian Cossacks . During the Imjin War , the Japanese utilized siege towers to scale the walls of Jinju but were beaten back several times by Korean cannons . In the early 19th century, the Joseon Army utilized siege towers to lay siege to Jeonju where the last of Hong Gyeong-Rae’s Rebellion made their stand but were beaten back several times by the rebels. In modern warfare, some vehicles used by police tactical units , counterterrorists , and special forces can be fitted with mechanical assault ladders with ramps. These are essentially modernized siege towers with elements of escalade ladders, and are used to raid

1220-483: The Chinese Yuejueshu (Lost Records of the State of Yue ) written by the later Han dynasty author Yuan Kang in the year 52 AD, Wu Zixu (526 BC – 484 BC) purportedly discussed different ship types with King Helü of Wu (r. 514 BC – 496 BC) while explaining military preparedness. Before labeling the types of warships used, Wu said: Nowadays in training naval forces we use the tactics of land forces for

1281-565: The Trojan Antenor . Siege tower A Roman siege tower or breaching tower (or in the Middle Ages , a belfry ) is a specialized siege engine , constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification . The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers or crossbowmen to stand on top of

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1342-503: The Wu army captured Ying , Chu's capital. After entering Ying, Wu Zixu exhumed King Ping's corpse, and gave it 300 lashes to exact vengeance on for his father and brother who were murdered by the Chu King. The military victory led to Wu Zixu's elevation to Duke of Shen and his alias Shenxu. After these victories, Wu briefly became the most powerful state and turned to other campaigns, defeating

1403-402: The Wu region ( Baiyue ) is distinct from Old Chinese spoken by central Chinese states. Historians have attempted to link the language with Austronesian languages , Kra–Dai or a non-Chinese Sino-Tibetan language . Baiyue language, also known as Old Yue language, went extinct in around 100, but a substrate is still preserved in contemporary Wu dialects. "Wu" continues to be used as a name for

1464-448: The Yue and captured their King Goujian , Wu failed to completely subjugate Yue, in part because of Fuchai's willingness to let King Goujian live in Wu as his servant. King Goujian suffered for years as Fuchai's servant/slave and planned his revenge. Fuchai under the promise of peace, let Goujian return to Yue, his homeland which later proved to be a fatal mistake for Wu. While Wu was engaged in

1525-627: The battle scenes. In modern Harpoot , Turkey, an artistically Akkadian style stone carved relief dated circa 2000 BC was found depicting a siege tower, the earliest known visual depiction from Anatolia (although siege towers were later described in Hittite cuneiform writing). Siege towers were used by the armies of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 9th century BC, under Ashurnasirpal II (r. 884 BC – 859 BC). Reliefs from his reign, and subsequent reigns, depict siege towers in use with

1586-543: The best effect. Thus great wing ships correspond to the army's heavy chariots, little wing ships to light chariots, stomach strikers to battering rams , castle ships to mobile assault towers, and bridge ships to light cavalry. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire into independent states, and the Eastern Roman Empire on the defensive, the use of siege towers reached its height during

1647-420: The bow would become king. All tried, but only the youngest was successful. On his attempt, three golden objects fell from the sky: a plow and yoke, a sword, and a cup. When the eldest two tried to pick them up, fire prevented them. After this, it was decided the youngest son, Scythes, would become king, and his people would be known as Scythians. The Torah (or Pentateuch, as biblical scholars sometimes call it)

1708-590: The customs they established: When the missionary and ethnologist C. Strehlow asked the Australian Arunta why they performed certain ceremonies, the answer was always: "Because the ancestors so commanded it." The Kai of New Guinea refused to change their way of living and working, and they explained: "It was thus that the Nemu (the Mythical Ancestors) did, and we do likewise." Asked the reason for

1769-557: The defense of the opposing fortification could not be overcome by ladder assault ("escalade"), by mining , or by breaking walls or gates with tools such as battering rams . The siege tower sometimes housed spearmen , pikemen , and swordsmen or archers and crossbowmen , who shot arrows and quarrels at the defenders. Because of the size of the tower it would often be the first target of large stone catapults, but it had its own projectiles with which to retaliate. Siege towers were used to get troops over an enemy curtain wall. When

1830-403: The development of large cannon . They had only ever existed to get assaulting troops over high walls and towers and large cannons also made high walls obsolete as fortification took a new direction. However, later constructions known as battery towers took on a similar role in the gunpowder age; like siege-towers, these were built out of wood on-site for mounting siege artillery . One of these

1891-481: The footprint of the King of Heaven. She gives birth to a son, Hou Ji , whom she leaves alone in dangerous places where he is protected by sheep, cattle, birds, and woodcutters. Convinced that he is a supernatural being, she takes him back and raises him. When he grows to adulthood, he takes the position of Master of Horses in the court of Emperor Yao , and becomes successful at growing grains, gourds and beans. According to

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1952-595: The function of myths in providing explanations, authorization or empowerment for the present in terms of origins: this could apply, not only to foundations or charter myths and genealogical trees (thus supporting family or territorial claims) but also to personal moral choices." In the period after Alexander the Great expanded the Hellenistic world, Greek poetry— Callimachus wrote a whole work simply titled Aitia —is replete with founding myths. Simon Goldhill employs

2013-486: The great wing ( da yi - 大翼), the little wing ( xiao yi - 小翼), the stomach striker ( tu wei - 突冒), the castle ship ( lou chuan - 楼船), and the bridge ship ( qiao chuan - 桥船). These were listed in the Yuejueshu (越绝书 - Lost Records of the State of Yue ) as a written dialogue between King Helü of Wu (r. 514 BC–496 BC) and Wu Zixu (526 BC–484 BC) in which the latter stated: Nowadays in training naval forces we use

2074-554: The legend, he becomes founder of the Zhou dynasty after overthrowing the evil ruler of Shang. Like other civilizations, the Scythians also claimed descent from the son of the god of heaven. One day, the daughter of the god of the Dnieper River stole a young man's horses while he was herding his cattle , and forced him to lie with her before returning them. From this union, she conceived three sons, giving them their father's greatbow when they came of age. The son who could draw

2135-404: The medieval period and allowed workers to fill in moats with protection from the defenders (thus levelling the ground for the siege towers to be moved to the walls). However, the construction of a sloping talus at the base of a castle wall (as was common in crusader fortification ) could have reduced the effectiveness of this tactic to an extent. Siege towers also became more elaborate during

2196-726: The medieval period. Siege towers were used when the Avars laid siege unsuccessfully to Constantinople in 626, as the Chronicon Paschale recounts: And in the section from the Polyandrion Gate as far as the Gate of St Romanus he prepared to station twelve lofty siege towers, which were advanced almost as far as the outworks, and he covered them with hides. At this siege, the attackers also made use mobile armoured shelters known as sows or cats, which were used throughout

2257-488: The medieval period; at the siege of Kenilworth in 1266, for example, 200 archers and 11 catapults operated from a single tower. Even then, the siege lasted almost a year, making it the longest siege in all of English history . They were not invulnerable either, as during the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman siege towers were sprayed by the defenders with Greek fire . Siege towers became vulnerable and obsolete with

2318-399: The metaphor of sedimentation in describing Apollonius' laying down of layers "where each object, cult, ritual, name, may be opened... into a narrative of origination, and where each narrative, each event, may lead to a cult, ritual, name, monument." A notable example is the myth of the foundation of Rome—the tale of Romulus and Remus , which Virgil in turn broadens in his Aeneid with

2379-617: The mythical founder of Wu. Several scholars suggest that the Yamato people and the Imperial House of Japan are descendants of the Wu and possibly Taibo. Many Japanese historians also link the early Japanese Yayoi people to the Baiyue tribes. Wu, together with Yue , is represented with the star Zeta Aquilae in asterism Left Wall , Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellations ). Founding myth An origin myth

2440-508: The new heir. After the collapse of the state, the other three sons of Fuchai were exiled. Themselves, their blood relatives and descendants took Wu as their clan name in honor of their fallen kingdom. The Records of the Grand Historian states that the people in Wu wore their hair short and sported tattoos. For Sima Qian this would have illustrated their supposed barbarism, as in his time Chinese men and women were not allowed to cut their hair or otherwise modify their body - doing so

2501-644: The odyssey of Aeneas and his razing of Lavinium , and his son Iulus 's later relocation and rule of the famous twins' birthplace Alba Longa , and their descent from his royal line, thus fitting perfectly into the already established canon of events. Similarly, the Old Testament's story of the Exodus serves as the founding myth for the community of Israel, telling how God delivered the Israelites from slavery and how they therefore belonged to him through

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2562-534: The primary exemplum , as the myth of Ixion was the original Greek example of a murderer rendered unclean by his crime, who needed cleansing ( catharsis ) of his impurity. Founding myths feature prominently in Greek mythology . "Ancient Greek rituals were bound to prominent local groups and hence to specific localities", Walter Burkert has observed, "i.e., the sanctuaries and altars that had been set up for all time". Thus Greek and Hebrew founding myths established

2623-611: The region around Suzhou and Shanghai and their regional speech, Wu Chinese . It was employed by other states and princes holding power in the region, most notably Eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms , and Wu and Wuyue of the Ten Kingdoms . Ambassadorial visits to Japan by the later Chinese dynasties Wei and Jin recorded that the Wajin of Japan claimed to be descendants of Taibo of Wu, traditionally believed to be

2684-468: The remains of such a siege-ramp at Masada , Israel built by the Romans during the siege of Masada (72–73 AD) have survived and can still be seen today. On the other hand, almost all the largest cities were on large rivers, or the coast, and so did have part of their circuit wall vulnerable to these towers. Furthermore, the tower for such a target might be prefabricated elsewhere and brought dismantled to

2745-420: The spearhead of King Fuchai and the sword of Prince Guang . Chinese historical texts linked the kings of Wu to Taibo , the uncle of King Wen of Zhou . Their ancestral name was Ji and their clan name was Gufa. The last king of Wu, King Fuchai had at least four sons, three of whom were named You, Hong and Hui. You was his heir but was killed in one of the battles leading to the defeat of Wu, and Hong became

2806-580: The special relationship between a deity and local people, who traced their origins from a hero and authenticated their ancestral rights through the founding myth. Greek founding myths often embody a justification for the ancient overturning of an older, archaic order, reformulating a historical event anchored in the social and natural world to valorize current community practices, creating symbolic narratives of "collective importance" enriched with metaphor to account for traditional chronologies, and constructing an etiology considered to be plausible among those with

2867-438: The tactics of land forces for the best effect. Thus great wing ships correspond to the army's heavy chariots , little wing ships to light chariots, stomach strikers to battering rams , castle ships to mobile assault towers , and bridge ships to light cavalry . Ironically, Wu was later threatened by an upstart state to its own south, Yue ; Chu then aided Yue's rise as a counter to Wu. Although Wu won majority of battles against

2928-604: The target city by water. In some rare circumstances, such towers were mounted on ships to assault the coastal wall of a city: at the Roman siege of Cyzicus during the Third Mithridatic War , for example, towers were used in conjunction with more conventional siege weapons. One of the oldest references to the mobile siege tower in Ancient China was a written dialogue primarily discussing naval warfare . In

2989-426: The term myth for stories that describe creation. Stories that do not primarily focus on origins are categorized as legend or folk tale , which are distinct from myths according to folklorists. Mircea Eliade , a historian, argues that in many traditional cultures, almost every sacred story can be considered an origin myth. Traditional societies often pattern their behavior after sacred events and view their lives as

3050-429: The terms founding myth or etiological myth (from Ancient Greek : αἴτιον aition 'cause') are occasionally used to describe a myth that clarifies an origin, particularly how an object or custom came into existence. In modern political discourse the terms "founding myth", "foundational myth", etc. are often used as critical references to official or widely accepted narratives about the origins or early history of

3111-476: The throne and became known as King Helü of Wu . In 506 BC, during the reign of King Zhao of Chu , King Helü decided to invade Chu. The king personally led the army, along with his younger brother Fugai , Wu Zixu, as well as Sun Tzu , author of The Art of War . Although Chu had a strong army led by Nang Wa and Shen Yinshu , it suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Boju . King Zhao of Chu fled to Sui and

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3172-567: The time of Emperor Aggripa, ship towers were built with a lighter, collapsible design that could be stowed flat on the deck when not in use, lowering the center of gravity. The biggest siege towers of antiquity, such as the Hellenistic Greek Helepolis (meaning " The Taker of Cities " in Greek ) of the siege of Rhodes in 305 BC by Demetrius I of Macedon , could be as high as 40 m (130 ft) and as wide as 20 m (66 ft). Such large engines would require

3233-675: The tower and shoot arrows or quarrels into the fortification. Because the towers were wooden and thus flammable, they had to have some non-flammable covering of iron or fresh animal skins. Evidence for use of siege towers in Ancient Egypt and Anatolia dates to the Bronze Age . They were used extensively in warfare of the ancient Near East after the Late Bronze Age collapse , and in Egypt by Kushites from Sudan who founded

3294-405: The tower to get bogged in the mud. The siege of Rhodes illustrates the important point that the larger siege towers needed level ground. Many castles and hill-top towns and forts were virtually invulnerable to siege tower attack simply due to topography. Smaller siege towers might be used on top of siege-mounds, made of earth, rubble and timber mounds in order to overtop a defensive wall. For example,

3355-459: The universe to the actions of these entities and forces, origin myths give the current order an aura of sacredness: "[M]yths reveal that the World, man, and life have a supernatural origin and history, and that this history is significant, precious, and exemplary". Many cultures instill the expectation that people take mythical gods and heroes as their role models , imitating their deeds and upholding

3416-482: The way to make "founders" seem more desirable and heroic. Ruling monarchs or aristocracies may allege descent from mythical founders, gods or heroes in order to legitimate their control. For example, Julius Caesar and his relatives claimed Aeneas (and through Aeneas, the goddess Venus ) as an ancestor. A founding myth or etiological myth (Greek aition ) explains either: Beginning in prehistorical times, many civilizations and kingdoms adopted some version of

3477-468: The youngest. Realizing that his youngest brother, Jili, was favored by his father to inherit the throne of Predynastic Zhou , the older brothers Taibo and Zhongyong left Zhou to avoid conflict and settled southeast to Wu with a group of followers loyal to him and his brother Zhongyong. They established their first capital at Meili ( 梅里 ), believed to be today's Meicun in Wuxi . Taibo's youngest brother Jili who

3538-529: Was besieging Ashmunein . Having assembled his army for their lack of success so far, the King then undertook the personal supervision of operations including the erection of a siege tower from which Kushite archers could fire down into the city. During the siege of Syracuse in 413 BC, Athenians erected a siege tower on ship hull. Alexander did the same at Tyre (322 BC) as did Marcellus in Syracuse (214 BC). Towers were used against both land and naval targets. At

3599-538: Was built by the Russian military engineer Ivan Vyrodkov during the siege of Kazan in 1552 (as part of the Russo-Kazan Wars ), and could hold ten large-calibre cannon and fifty lighter cannons. Likely, it was a development of the gulyay-gorod (that is a mobile fortification assembled on wagons or sleds from prefabricated wall-sized shields with holes for cannons). Later battery towers were often used by

3660-401: Was considered an offence against the ancestors from which one had inherited one's physical features. Wu rulers did not receive posthumous names after death. The famed military strategist Sun Tzu , renowned for his military treatise The Art of War , served as a general under King Helü of Wu. The rulers of Wu are said to be descendants of early Zhou ; however, the indigenous language of

3721-508: Was eventually the heir of the throne became the father of King Wen, who is attributed to starting the Zhou dynasty. Little is known about the history of Wu before the Spring and Autumn period . Wu rose to power in the 6th century BC, after it was aided by the State of Jin as a useful ally against the State of Chu. In 584 BC, Wu rebelled against Chu upon the advice of Wuchen, a Jin minister, who defected from Chu. From then on, Wu would become

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