Toy - A history of fortification : from 3000 BC to AD 1700

Troy: Wall of the Sixth City.

Babylon has been so thoroughly devastated, and the remains brought to light in modern times so fragmentary, that our knowledge of the city is largely derived from the descriptions given of it by Herodotus, Ctesias and Strabo; and these descriptions apply more particularly to the city as remodelled by Nebuchadnezzar the Second. The more ancient walls, dating about 2500BC, were, as found by modern excavation, 23 ft. 4 in. thick, and were strengthened at intervals of about 140 ft. by towers alternately of greater and less projection. They were defended by a moat.

About 600BC. Nebuchadnezzar strengthened these fortifications by increasing the thickness of the existing wall on the outside, digging a new moat, and constructing an entirely new line of defences, consisting of a wall and a moat, inside the old walls. The city was now protected by a double line of walls and moats, the outer moat being lined with burnt bricks set in asphalt. The full thickness of the outer wall, as measured from the ruins themselves, is 85 ft. 8 in. This dimension agrees closely with the measurement given by Herodotus. The figures he gives for the height and extent of the walls must be taken simply as expressive of great proportions; exact measurements on such a scale would involve a complicated survey not reasonable to expect.

Babylon: The Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar gate at Babylon, crossing the sacred way near the palace, dates from about 600BC and still stands to a considerable height. Its walls are decorated in low relief with large figures of bulls and dragons, executed in glazed brickwork. The long passage through the gateway is intersected at three points by large cross-chambers.

Nebuchadnezzar built a new wall round the Temenos ai Ur of the Chaldees. This was actually a cavity wall composed of outer and inner solid portions, each 3.25 m. thick, set 5.20 m. apart and connected at intervals by strong cross-ribs, the total thickness being 11.70 m., or 38 ft. 4 in. The wall is strengthened on both outer and inner faces by shallow buttresses, spaced at close intervals. The four principal gateways are set back from the general face of the wall in such a manner as to form wide spaces in front open to attack from the walls on three sides. There were guardrooms on either side of the passage through the gateways.

EGYPT

At the southern extremity of Egypt, near Wadi Haifa, are the remains of three border fortresses, said to date from about 2000BC. They are all of purely military character. One of them, at the island of Uronarti on the Nile, was built of very thick walls supported at frequent intervals by massive buttresses constructed of brick with timber bonding.

The palatial buildings of Upper Egypt popularly known as temples, as those at Kamak, the Ramesseum, and Medinet Habu, all at Thebes, are enclosed by fortifications, often of great strength. The girdle walls around Kamak, actually three groups of majestic buildings, are largely destroyed, but their sites are clearly outlined. The dominating palace of Ammon consists of a long suite of halls arranged in line, preceded, on the side towards the Nile, by an open court and terminated at the far end in a complicated and intricate group of chambers which were probably devoted to domestic uses.

On the south side of the forecourt and running at right angles to the main suite of halls there is a temple, the temple of Rameses III. This building consists of a long open court flanked on either side by a row of statues of Osiris with a short hall and cells at the far end.

Plan of UR of the Chalders

Medinet Habu: The Outer Pylons (Gateways)