The siege of Masada

[Manius Scipio]

The siege of Masada was one of the most important and amazing sieges in all war history, only the roman legions could perform such kind of siege and enter in the mighty fortress of Masada.
The hard conditions that the roman legionnaires had to endure in the desert such as high temperatures, lack of water and half rations is just proof enough that the roman soldier was superior to the others.
Where was the supply of water in that region of desert? How the romans finished the last section of the ramp under constant danger of the arrows of the Zelots? And from where come all the wood necessary for the siege tower? Sorry if this subject was already discussed in this forum

[M. Demetrius]

There are probably 10 good, long threads on Masada on RAT. I don't know for sure if water was one of the topics, but by the time they were seiging Masada, the neighboring towns had been subdued, so water was available, though still a fairly formidable logistical problem to transport to the troops.

[Sascha]

If you read Flavius Josephus you will get an idea, how difficult it was to provide the army with wood (for the siege of Jerusalem).
It seems to me, that this was one of the worst problems, which influences some tactical decisions.

[M. Demetrius]

True enough about the wood. But if a wood shipment is a day late, it's just a schedule problem. If the water is a day late, men can't work. In the heat, two days late can equal horrible attrition from heatstroke and dehydration, not a few might die.

One man in a hot environ like a desert can drink (and sweat) 4 liters of water per day. A horse drinks 4 or5 times as much...10,000 men and a couple hundred horses equals many wagons of water barrels delivered daily.