Inspired by the thread about ancient events that lack much corroborative evidence…
I went and saw Masada a few years back. Of all the ruins of the ancient world that I have seen, it’s my favourite by a long way. Ancient ruins are usually evidence of a society. However Masada and more particularly the still-in-existence Roman ramp is the only example I can think of where there is still evidence on the ground of a specific, one-off, ancient, manmade* event.
Are there any other examples?
*Evidence of natural events or the effect of natural events on man (like Pompeii) don’t count
Maybe the modern city of Tyre would fit the bill. Tyre was originally an island about a half mile from the shore (of what is now Lebanon). Alexander the Great laid siege to the island after he was refused permission to sacrifice to a temple in the city. He built a causeway from the shore to the island and sacked the city. Over centuries, the causeway became silted up and Tyre is now a peninsula rather than a city. I find it fascinating that the bit of land now connecting the shore to the original island is actually the physical remains of a genuine Alexandrian conquest.
I suppose I have to add another qualification which is that I am thinking of events other than the construction/destruction of the ruin in question itself.
What about sackings of a city that continued to exist? At least one level of Troy had been burned (which has often been used to link that level to the Homeric city). Several Maya cities appear to have been sacked on occasions before their ultimate abandonment.
DtC, that’s really cool. I knew he built the causeway, but I always assumed it came down again. Do you happen to have a cite for it becoming a landmass?
I first learned this whole story from some documentary on Alexander on one of those “educational” channels (History Channel? A&E? One of those) and thought it was really cool. If you google “Tyre causeway” you can find a lot of cites. Here’s one chosen at random:
Ooh, I thought of one. They’ve found Roman weapons in the Teutoberg forest, the site of the loss of three Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest against Arminius.
At the Forum in Rome, you can still see green stains on the paving which are (said to be) the remnants of copper coins which were melted in the sack of Rome by the forces of Alaric the Goth on 24 August 410.
Remains of the roman camps and items associated with the roman army have been found around the oppidum of Gergovia , besieged by Caesar during the Gallic war.
I’m not sure exactly what the OP is asking for. Obviously, there are plenty of large remaining works in the ancient world. From the Pyramids to the Pont du Gard, Roman Roads to the Amerind ruins of Kaskaskia, there are plenty of examples of the remnants od large ancient works, many of which are mentioned in ancient texts.
By “one-ff” do you mean the results of things that tremain or events not intended to be permanent, major public works? In that case, I’m not surprised that you don’t find much from the ancient world – after all, you don’t find many such things from 100 years ago. Or even ten. Grafitti in Pompeii and the Roman Forum is still there. So are post holes and campfire pits and (as noted above) remains of camp sites. But people don’t generally record such things.
