If you’re an invading horde, or massively successful conqueror or an army commander after vengeance, it might be handy to know how to really sack a city, and to sack it good. Of course, there’s always the standard pillaging (take all the treasure, antiquities, etc.), which has been done a lot (like Constantinople by the Crusaders). There’s also the equally frequent (and effective) burning to the ground, like say, at Troy. But I mean, if you’re really gonna sack a city, you have to go all out and get creative.
Best example of a truly thorough sacking of a city? Carthage circa 146BC. Those Romans not only defeated the city militarily (okay, it took them two years), but they also burned and basically leveled the city. Furthermore, legend has it (and some 19th century historians) that the Romans salted the earth, so that it couldn't support life. Even if its a bit impractical (carting large doses of salt peter around is probably more effort than its worth, plus you can't just occupy the city after you've salted it to death, can you?), that’s thinking outside of the box.
So the moral of the story is that if you want to sack a city thoroughly, do something really rotten, like ruin their ability to grow food for the foreseeable future. Then again, if you yourself want to actually use the city post-defeat, you probably shouldn’t turn it to dust. You could be like the Ostrogoths in Ravenna, and just keep everything nice and pretty, in the hopes of making you seem less like a barbarian. After all, rebuilding or starting a new city is expensive. So if you're feeling particularly vindictive, go ahead and sack a city; but if you're not going to really do it right, don't bother at all (unless its an ugly city...in which case I suggest razing it to the ground and starting over...unless you have no aesthetic skills, in which case...oh never mind).
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