Talk:Talus (fortification)

Currently searching for better references on this subject. JWAbrams (talk) 18:59, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

MILHIST initial assessment

The lack of references has already been noted. Could benefit from a clear diagram. The image of Tughlaqabad is not a clear depiction, so doesn't really help the reader gain an impression of the talus.Monstrelet (talk) 10:32, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Splay

A form of splay get redirected here. But it is different. The architectural term splay is a bevel on a window that allows more light in. See w:it:Strombatura for the Italian description. SemperBlotto (talk) 16:52, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Not the only usage

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Talus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 386. Defines Talus as:

TALUS (Lat. for the “ankle-bone”), in architecture, the slope of an embankment wall, which is thicker at the bottom than at the top, to resist the pressure of the earth behind it.

• James, Charles (1805), A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary, T. Egerton, pp. 227–228, 908 defines Talus as:

Talus signifies a slope made either on the outside or inside of any work, to prevent the earth's rolling down; it is of various denominations, vis.

• Talus of the banquette is that gentle slope from the top of the banquette [(fire step below the parapet (p.219))] to the horizontal line.
• Interior talus of the parapet, the slope from the top of the parapet to the banquette.
• Talus of the top of the parapet, that slope that lessens the height of the parapet towards the berm, by which means the troops firing from the banquette can defend the covert-way.
• Exterior talus of the parapet, the slope of the parapet from the top to the berm.
• Interior tales of the ditch, the slope from the top of the ditch to the bottom, within.
• Exterior talus of the ditch is the slope from the top of the ditch to the bottom, without.

It defines Glacis as:

Glacis, is the part beyond the covert way [the border of the ditch towards the country protected by rising ground or glacis (p.123)], to which it serves as a parapet, and terminates towards the field in an easy slope about 20 fathom distance.(p.225)

It seems that the current version of this Wikipedia article has taken a specific description of an use for the word Talus and generalised it as its meaning in this case the "Exterior talus of the parapet", because while the slopes may be described as talus so can many other types from other ages.

The problem seems to be that in medieval constructions the slop could be there for a number of different reasons (or several at the same time), and hence there are different names for the same thing depending on what the author thinks was the reason for slope/slant see here (Apron).

That document also defines a Glacis as:

The area outside the ditch which was scarped into a gentle slope running downwards from the covered way towards the open country, which was kept deliberately free of any form of cover. The glacis brought an approaching assailing force into clear view from the parapet of a fortification under attack. See declivity. (2) The masonry sloped scarp of a curtain wall, a design which was developed to offset the effect of artillery fire. See talus. (L. glucies, ice).

The second meaning of which is also an accurate description of what is being described in this article.

-- PBS (talk) 10:58, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

I propose merging Talus into Glacis. I think the content in talus can easily be explained in the context of glacis, and a merger would not cause any article-size or weighting problems in glacis. Gamle Kvitrafn (talk) 22:42, 31 October 2022 (UTC)