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Croesus' Wealth Lost By A Helmet In 547 BC, Cyrus, the Great King of Persia was at war with Croesus, the fabulously rich king of Lydia. Cyrus's cavalry forces had beaten the Lydians in the field, but Croesus retreated and rallied his troops in a strong defense of Sardis within its stout walls, but at the same time had bottled himself and most of his army up in the capital.Cyrus sat down to besiege it, but its walls were very high and strong, and...

The Viking was a terror on land but maybe more known for the trouble caused from their now famous long ships (801300). Any coastal European town that could be reached in the high prowed, low draft ships was fair game. Even amongst themselves, wars were fought frequently from the decks of these large warships....

Spartan ArmorTheir shields consisted of wood and leather with the face completely covered in a thin sheet of stressed bronze (881004), which was enough to strengthen the shield, but did not add so much weight as to make it useless. Each shield was round and approx 36 - 38 according to some unearthed examples. Legend says that a warrior was given his shield by his mother and instructed to come back with it or on it. The shield was considered th...