h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was just overjoyed to see the word "sack" used to describe the tumbling fall of a city besides Rome. Where on earth did the word come from, and why does it seem exclusively reserved for Rome?

A sack isn't just the fall of a city, it is where the invaders systematically strip the city of all it's valuables. Guess what, they put the loot in a sack, and that's where the word comes from, though it may seem hard to believe. It comes to us from Mediaeval French "mettre a sac", but the word sac means the same thing.

Thanks! So when a city is sacked it isn't occupied, just looted?

It might be occupied, but not necessarily. It is traditional to allow three days of looting when you invade a city. After the third day, the looting has to stop, and anyone found doing it is punished.

I'll keep that in mind.


... Anything else an invader should know? It sounds like a potential Guide entry: How to Sack a City.

I was actually serious, there. Already had the outline ready, waiting for information to slot in:

So you want to sack a city? Well you're in good company.
[brief synopsis of famous city-sackers]

Section 1: choosing a city
[include famous sacked cities and why they were prime for sacking]

Section 2: sacking techniques
[details and traditions and how to tips]

Section 3: Disclaimer
sacking cities is against international law, blah blah, leading a sacking may result in loss of freedom and being put on trial before the International Court of Law, etc etc. Modern conquest customs is not to sack cities, but rather to rehabilitate them and attempt to convert them to your political philosophy. h2g2 and the BBC is not responsible for the failure of your sacking or any negative fallout that occurs due to following the preceding methods.

That looks like the bones of a good entry. Do you want to pursue it?

Yes!
I forgot a short section on why to sack a city... political power, good loot, pretty women, revenge, cultural imperialism, I imagine.

...you are not averse to providing most of the flesh for the bones?

At the moment I am. I've read so much about Constantinople that I don't want to think about history for another three months at least. I'll get back to my usual interests of music and maths.

Three months then.
*jots a note on desk calendar*
I'll be back - bwahahaha...

Just storing information...

Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: 4sack
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: 5sack
1 : to plunder (as a town) especially after capture
2 : to strip of valuables : LOOT
synonym see RAVAGE
- sack·er noun


>>The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 was a decisive event in the First Jewish-Roman War, followed by the fall of Masada in 73.

in a photo caption of Titus's Arch, Wiki calls this a sacking.



>>The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, marked a crucial imperial victory in the conflict between the Holy Roman Empire and the League of Cognac (1526–1529)

- THE sack of Rome


>>>Read somewhere in a book about the Gunpowder Plot that a monarch of the time was in the habit of sacking Rome every once in a while. Must look up the name - I think it was a female, possibly a Catherine? Needless to say, it didn't endear her to the Pope.


>>scenes of the Aeneid, showing convincingly how narrative and other conventions from Roman historiography are exploited in Vergil's narratives of fighting at the fall of Troy and the war in Italy.

-this Bryn Mawr essay goes on to describe Troy as 'sacked'.

No wait, this was "THE" sacking of Rome. At least, it was the one I learned about in high school:

>>Rome itself had already been sacked by Allaric and the Visigoths in 410 CE.

I wonder if Rome is the most sacked city in the world?

>>Audoghast – Wealthy Berber city in medieval Ghana, sacked by mujihadeen
- wiki again

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/004Postscripts/PalamedesToNauplius.html
- Letter from Palamedes to his father Nauplius
- describes Troy sacking cities around it for money


>>Its cities — Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and others — have been ruled and fought over by Sogdians, Zoroastrian Turks, Arabs, Samanids, and Mongols. And once a city's walls were breached, its palaces and monuments, made of sun-dried brick, were easily ground to dust.

- later on says they were all sacked at some point or another. This topic looks vast.


>>[skip video game cities that have been sacked]



>> Thousands have been murdered and maimed. The archives of the cradle of civilization and the national museum have been sacked. (Iraq) Too bad GWB doesn't come off as a city sacker no matter how you spin it.

Sorry - couldn't leave out Tamerlane!

>>During the reign of Aqa Khan of the Ilkhanids, as well as under the reign of Ghazan Khan, Tabriz reached the peak of glory and importance. Many great artists and philosophers from all over the world traveled to Tabriz. In 1392, after the end of Mongol rule, the town was sacked by Tamerlane.

Some of the East European towns were sacked 80 - 90 times in their history. Can't remember which one in particular.

Oh well, don't feel compelled to exert yourself on that count. There are still about 30 days left to your reprieve.

I'm not interested in writing an Entry on sacks in general.

No, the idea was about sacking in specific, following the general outline above. However, I feel compelled to know at least in general what I'm talking about. Hence, crashing the topic. I imagine the Eastern European towns were sacked by Asian raiders? I gather that the most common motive is that it is a lucrative enterprise.

Are there any well-known names who sacked cities? Titus would be one. But the other sackers seem to be tribes of raiders.