The Assyrian sappers had dug a network of siege-trenches surrounding the town. Counter-balanced catapults stood in rows, their long arms and leather slings idle now, but ready to fling flaming oil-bombs over the city wall. Four large siege-engines crouched at the walls amid a rubble of smashed and battered brick. Their armored roofs and sides were dented by stones and splattered with pitch, flung by the defenders.