With a collection of 57 articles in English, French and German, presenting the most recent research on ancient fortifications, this book is the most substantial publication ever to have issued on the topic for many years. While fortifications of the ancient cultures of the middle east and ancient Greek and Roman worlds were noticed by travellers and scholars from the very beginning of research on antiquity from the late 18th century onwards, the architectural, economic, logistical, political, urban and other social aspects of fortifications have been somewhat overlooked and underestimated by scholarship in the 20th century. The book presents the research of a new generation of scholars who have been analysing those aspects of fortifications, many of them with years of experience in field-work on city walls. Much new evidence and a fresh look at this important category of built structure is now made available, and the publication will be of interest not only to the field of ancient architecture, but also to other sub-disciplines of archaeology and ancient history.
The papers were presented at a conference in Athens in December 2012, and they all present material and discuss topics under seven headings that represent the most central themes in the study of fortification in antiquity: the origins of fortification, physical surroundings and building technique, function and semantics, historical context, the fortification of regions and regionally confined phenomena, the fortifications of Athens and new field research.
The book is Volume 2 in the new series Fokus Fortifikation Studies, created by the German based international research network Fokus Fortifikation. The topics included have been identified by the network over many previous conferences and workshops as being the most important and as needing research and discussion beyond the network members. Volume 1 in the series, Ancient Fortifications: a compendium of theory and practice (Oxbow Books) will also appear in 2015 and together the two volumes bring the field of fortification studies up-to-date and will be an essential resource for many years to come.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Studying Ancient Fortifications: A promising and expanding field
• Origins of Fortifications
  • Introduction
  • Mari and the Development of Complex Defensive Systems in Mesopotamia at the Dawn of History
  • Mesopotamian Poliorcetics Before Assyria: Genesis of the Art of Fortification and Siege Warfare
  • Building the Frontier: Frontier Fortifications in the Assyrian Empire
  • Fortifications of Prehistoric Crete: The Current State of Research
  • Late Middle Helladic and Early Late Helladic Fortifications: Some Considerations on the Role of Burials and Grave Monuments at City Gates
  • The Fortifications of Archaic Rome: Social and Political Significance
  • Fortifications of Central Anatolia in the Early First Millennium BC
  • Origins of Sabaean Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC – Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Mārib and Ṣirwāḥ (Yemen)
• Physical Surroundings and Technique: The Building Experience
  • Physical Surroundings, Technique and Building Experience: The State of Research in the Network Fokus Fortifikation
  • Techniques et économie de la construction des fortifications en pierre: méthodes et perspectives
  • Fortifying a Major Early Bronze Age Centre: The Construction and Maintenance of Tell Chuera’s (Northern Syria) Outer Defence Works
  • The Fortifications of Larisa (Buruncuk) Reconsidered
  • The Acropolis Wall on Monte Croccia (South Italy). Building a Lucanian Fortification: The Economical and Representative Utilization of the Landscape
• Functions and Semantics
  • Functions and Semantics of Fortifications: An Introduction
  • The Castle Euryalos of Syracuse
  • Fortifications and Town Planning in Kyrrhos: Its Hellenistic Origin and Its Evolution
  • Form, Funktion und Bedeutung der Stadtmauern von Perge in Pamphylien
  • Hellenistische Prunktore – ein wissenschaftlicher Irrtum? Vorläufige Grabungsergebnisse vom Osttor von Side aus der Kampagne 2012
  • The Function and Significance of Fortified Sanctuary Precincts in the Eastern Mediterranean World during the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
  • Fortified Palaces and Residences in Hellenistic Times: The Upper Castle on Mount Karasis and Other Examples
  • Zur semantischen Funktion des Bogens im Stadttorbau. Ein Vergleich zwischen republikanischen und hellenistischen Stadttoren
  • Candentia Moenia. The Symbolism of Roman City Walls
  • The Fortification of Secondary Settlements in Late Roman Gaul
  • The Two Defensive Systems of the Late Roman Imperial Palace of Romuliana-Gamzigrad (Dacia Ripensis)
• Historical Context
  • Antike Befestigungsbauten im historischen Kontext. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag des Netzwerks ‚Fokus Fortifikation‘
  • Defence, Attack and the Fate of the Defeated: Reappraising the Role of City-walls
  • Neue Forschungen zu den Befestigungen von Ephesos in archaischer und klassischer Zeit: Archäologischer Befund und Schriftquellen
  • The Pontine Region Under the Early Republic: A Contested Landscape
  • Römisch-italische Stadtmauern der Mittleren Republik: Funktion und Semantik. Eine quellenkritische Untersuchung zu Livius
  • Les fortifications de Myra dans la défense de la Lycie orientale
  • The Athenian Walls in the 1st Century BC
  • The Late Roman City Wall of Resafa/Sergiupolis (Syria): Its Evolution and Functional Transition from Representative over Protective to Concealing
• The Fortification of Regions
  • Regional Fortifications and the Fortification of Regions
  • Étudier l’organisation défensive d’une région et son évolution: pour une archéologie historique des fortifications. Question de méthode
  • Les fortifications dans le système défensif lacédémonien à l’époque classique
  • Isolated Towers in the Fortification Network of Ancient Molossia: A Case Study
  • Les tours isolées de l’Hispanie romaine: postes militaires ou maisons fortes?
  • Some Preliminary Results Regarding the Mithridatic Defence System
  • City Walls as Regional and Imperial Strategy? The Case of South Languedoc
  • Claustra Alpium Iuliarum: A Late Antique Defensive System in the Northern Adriatic and Eastern Alps
  • ‚Frühbyzantinische Befestigungen‘ als Siedlungsgrundeinheit im Illyricum des 6. Jahrhunderts
• Regionally Confined Phenomena
  • Introduction
  • The Fortifications of Iron Age Oppida in Southern Drôme (France) and the Control of their Territories
  • The City Walls of the Andrian Colonies: Tradition and Regionalism in Military Architecture
  • Das Befestigungssystem der lelego-karischen Stadt Pedasa
  • The Fortifications at Halikarnassos and Priene: Some Regional Characteristics?
  • Polygonalmauern in Mittelitalien und ihre Rezeption in mittel- und spätrepublikanischer Zeit
  • Chronologiediskurse zu den punischen und römischen Stadtmauern Sardiniens
  • Graeco-Roman Poliorketics and the Development of Military Architecture in Antiochia Hippos of the Decapolis as a Test Case
  • Les fortifications kouchanes en Bactriane
• The Fortifications of Athens and New Field Research
  • Introduction
  • The Middle Bronze Age Fortifications on the Aspis Hill at Argos
  • Die archaische Stadtmauer von Korinth
  • Recent Research in Palaiomanina, Acarnania
  • Neue Forschungen in Eryx: Die Ausgrabungen an der Stadtmauer und die Topographie der Stadt
  • About the Meaning of Fortifications in Late Antique Cities: The Case of Athens in Context
  • The Benizeli Mansion Excavation: Latest Evidence on the Post-Herulian Fortification Wall in Athens