The city of Athens, capital of modern Greece, has had different sets of city walls from the Bronze Age to the early 19th century. The city walls of Athens include:
- the Mycenaean Cyclopean fortifications of the Acropolis of Athens
- the Pelasgic wall at the foot of the Acropolis
- the so-called "Archaic Wall", whose existence and course are debated by scholars
- the Themistoclean Wall, built in 479 BC, the main city wall during Antiquity, restored and rebuilt several times (under Conon, Demosthenes, Demetrios Poliorketes, etc.)
- the Long Walls, built in the 460s and 440s BC, connecting Athens with its ports at Piraeus and Phaleron
- the Protocheisma, a second wall built in front of the Themistoclean Wall in 338 BC as an extra defence against the Macedonians
- the Diateichisma, built in the 280s BC as a second line of defence against Macedonian-held Piraeus
- the Valerian Wall, built in , partly along the lines of older walls, partly as a new fortification, to protect the city against barbarian attacks
- the Herulian (or Post-Herulian) Wall, a much smaller circuit built in , enclosing the centre of the ancient city following its sack by the Heruli in 267 AD
- the Rizokastro, built in the 13th century around the Acropolis
- the Wall of Haseki, constructed in 1778 by the Ottoman governor of Athens, Hadji Ali Haseki
Gates
References
Sources
- Maier, Franz Georg (1959-1961). Griechische Mauerbauinschriften [Greek building inscriptions of city walls]. 2 volumes. Vestigia, vol. 1/2. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer (on Athens especially volume 1, pp. 15-84).