Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to symbolize a curse on their re-inhabitation. It originated as a symbolic practice in the ancient Near East and became a well-established folkloric motif in the Middle Ages. Since high levels of soil salinity damage most crops, there is a common misconception that salt was used to poison farmland, but the required amounts would be unfeasible for herbicidal warfare.
Read more about Salting The Earth: Destroying Cities, Punishing Traitors, Legends
Famous quotes containing the word earth:
“Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing—instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)