Ukrainian Police do a Testuto

[Robert Vermaat]

Which makes one wonder how effective Roman testudos were in siege situations (for which they were alledgedly developed - Trajan's Column)? Of course no bottles with gasoline were available then, but plenty of flammable stuff!

Was flammable liquid available? I thought that without rock oil it was quite hard to produce an incendiary which you could light with a touch of a flame. I don't think that vegetable oil or fat or resin instantly burst into flames like in the movies.

I did not refer to flammable liquids! But hot liquids, oil or water or anything alike, could of course be thrown from the wall and badly wound anyone in a testudo.