Roman / 73 / 74 CE
Masada
Watch a supply line build an earthen approach over the western spur. When the surface is ready, a timber tower can climb toward the casemate wall.
MACEDONIAN / PHOENICIAN COAST / 332 BCE
Tyre.
Stone causeway.
Haulers carry rubble from the shore and extend a causeway toward an island city. Ships circle the works and towers advance as the stone surface emerges from the water.
Play the Tyre siege simulation
What to watch.
Watch the stone causeway emerge toward the island city. The construction cells track accumulated material, and the workers walk on the changing surface.
Ships move around the approach while waves and sails animate. These ships use simple controlled paths; the scene does not attempt to solve naval warfare or coastal sediment transport.
Compare the camp view on the mainland with the city view on the island. Once the causeway is ready, the tower advances along the new route.
The historical setting.
Alexander’s forces besieged the island city in 332 BCE. A causeway linked it to the mainland, permanently changing the coastline.
How the model simplifies it
The island, channel, causeway, fleet, and construction rate are stylized. Ships follow simple steering paths; the water surface is a wave model. This is not a sediment transport or naval warfare reconstruction.
Three.js renders the scene, while cannon-es handles dynamic bodies, gravity, collisions, pickup constraints, and projectiles. Workers follow local job routines. Siege engines and ships use controlled movement. This is a playable engineering visualization, not an archaeological survey or a calibrated battle model.
Play in your browser.
Construction begins automatically. Choose Overview, Works, City, or Camp to move closer. Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Click a person to inspect their job, then choose Follow this person if you want to stay with them.
Grab & toss lifts workers and soldiers. Release slowly to drop or flick to throw. Shockwave knocks nearby people off balance. Space pauses; 1×, 4×, and 12× change the simulation speed. Advance works moves you to the later phase. Progress is saved separately for each siege in this browser.
Open TyreSources and further reading.
These links support the historical context. The miniature’s geometry, agents, and physical parameters are original simplified implementations.
Explore another siege.
Roman / 52 BCE
Alesia
Builders extend two defensive circuits around the hilltop settlement. Roman patrols hold the space between them while a relief force approaches from outside.
Roman / 70 CE
Jerusalem
Work crews build approach terraces beneath the northern defenses. Towers and artillery support an assault against several walls around a dense urban model.
Ottoman / 1453 CE
Constantinople
Crews prepare protected gun positions and bring ammunition forward. Heavy cannon fire physical projectiles toward a miniature section of the layered land walls.
Ottoman / 1648–1669 CE
Candia
Digging crews push zigzag trenches toward the Venetian bastions. Supply carriers move between the camp and batteries while cannon exchange fire over the earthworks.