In 1453, a Hungarian engineer named Urban changed the course of history by casting the largest cannons the world had ever seen for Sultan Mehmed II. This episode tells the story of Urban's journey from offering his services to the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI to building the bronze monster that smashed the Theodosian Walls. We explore how the cannon was cast, transported by 60 oxen and 400 men, and fired 60 times a day for weeks. Urban's great bombard, the Şahi, measured 26 feet long and hurled 1,200-pound stone balls nearly a mile. But the cannon had fatal flaws: it took an hour to reload and often cracked. We also cover Urban's death in the siege and the legacy of his innovation, which made medieval fortifications obsolete. Join Lucas and Luna as they unpack the technical marvel and human drama behind the siege artillery that ended an empire.
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