But... ok
swamp maples require HUNDREDS of gallons of fresh water a day, per tree.
Mud brick implies a wet climate.
Were the 43’ walls for flood control?
There’s no date proposed in the article. Long-range catapults were in use from the Macedonian conquest period.
Maybe the walls were a public-works program: “shovel-ready stimulus” jobs, as it were. “Who cares if it does any good? Just keep building!”
Mudbrick was practical (still in use today) because of the Nile and the sunshine needed to cure ‘em. The thickness of the walls was due to the ease with which they were dug through. Thicker meant the garrison had more time to notice the attack, organize a counterattack, and jump on the attackers. :’)