Hellenistic fortifications are defense structures constructed during the Hellenistic Period of ancient Greek civilization (323 - ca. 30 B.C.E.). These included fortification walls, towers, and gates. Expansion of Greek territory during the Hellenistic Period from Alexander the Great's conquests created the necessity to build new fortifications with new settlements. [1] This, combined with developing military technology, led to changes in style of architecture specific to the Hellenistic Period.
The Hellenistic Period was the period in Ancient Greek civilization from 323 - ca. 30 B.C.E.. It is marked by the death of Alexander the Great and ends with the rise of the Roman Empire. The period follows the conquests of Alexander the Great spreading Greek territory far into Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Middle East. The Hellenistic Period saw Greek territorial expansion at its greatest. Acquisition of new territory led to the movement of Greek people and influence throughout the Mediterranean. It also allowed for the rise of new cities. With a huge territory, being "Greek" became less of a geographic locator, and more a representation of personal cultural ties. [1] Therefore architecture built during this time developed both a mix of canonical Greek elements and locally indigenous styles.
The buildup of new cities required the build up of fortification walls. Fortification walls served multiple purposes for the Greeks. They served as a means of protection from invasion and as markers of territory. [2] Walls were first constructed around the city's Acropolis, to ensure the safety of the most important part of Greek society—their sacred space. The extent to which the defensive walls protected only the city-center, or spread into the countryside, varied. The intensity of defense measures depended on a city's vulnerability and likelihood of attack. [3]
Therefore, it was common to see Greek civilizations purposefully located at naturally defensible locations such as mountains and rivers. These natural barriers sometimes prevented the need to build fortifications. Choosing geography as a means of defense only increased during the Hellenistic period with the development of colonies. When specifically looking to where to build a new city, rulers chose locations with defense in mind. [3] An example of this can be seen at Mount Oreion, Corinthia. Located on the important Corinthian isthmus, the Mount Oreion mountain range provided a natural barrier for the city. In low sloping planes, such as the sites of Stanotopi and Maritsa, walls were constructed to add to protection. [4]
Towers provided a variety of purposes for the Greeks. They were a place to store military supplies and provide lookouts out over the fortification walls. In the Hellenistic Period, there was a shift in the construction and placement of towers. This is due to the increasing necessity to have what would be the strongest defensive line. Prior to the Hellenistic Period, towers were largely simple, single-storied square buildings. Due to advances in military technology this style of tower changed. The creation of the cannon led to the development of circular or multi-angled towers rather than square shaped. The new shapes made the structure stronger against impact from a cannonball. [3]
At the start of the Hellenistic Period, towers were incorporated into the fortification walls. Moving through the Hellenistic Period, there was a shift to towers being constructed separate from the wall system. Circular or multi-angled towers would have been more difficult to incorporate into the flat-walled architecture. They were also separated due to their vulnerability to attack. If a cannon were to take down a separate tower, it would not effect the defensibility of the walls. [3]
This idea is seen specifically at Alinda, Karia. Original construction had the citadel connected in the city walls. A later construction purposefully brought the citadel outside the city defense fortifications, and away from the city center. This has been hypothesized as a decision to further protect the city, by keeping a potential military target away from the society. [5]
Hellenistic fortifications were built out of a variety of materials. The materials largely depended on what could be sourced locally. This provided the cheapest, most abundant option. Most common were ashlar block masonry and mud-brick. However, we also see limestone and stone filled with rubble. Mud-brick was common in colonies located around the Black Sea and Ionia. The process for mud-brick took materials of clay and water and then added sand to strengthen the consistency. The mixture was then placed in wooden molds and let to dry in the sun. [6]
In the Hellenistic period, the use of ashlar block style masonry developed. Here, blocks were evenly cut small and rectangular, to create the strongest individual block. Thus, creating stronger walls and towers. [6] These construction projects were largely financed from public funds, rather than from individual donors as they were a public necessity. [3]
Colonies created during the Hellenistic period held an interesting mix of incorporating both Greek and foreign indigenous styles of Architecture. A majority of settlements around the Black Sea were founded by Milesians, therefore architectural methods and styles of the Milesians were transferred on. [3] But, in these same colonies, there was a sense of needing to legitimize their "Greekness". New rulers wanted to prove that they were just as Greek as cities in mainland Greece. Therefore, many elements found in traditional Greek fortification walls were also seen in colonies far from the mainland. [1]
At the site of Chersonesus, blocks were cut long and flat. Masonries purposefully used a style of untrimming to give a stylistic effect common in Greek cities. In all fortification walls, one continuous idea was all walls were kept relatively low, but powerful from the use of small bricks or ashlar blocks. It was not economically resourceful to create extra-tall or extra-thick walls, when the strength in the stone itself would be defensible on its own. Walls were only made as tall or as thick as they were needed. [3] Generally, fortifications were simple in design, their purpose was simply to defend, not to necessarily look pretty. However, Chersonesos offers a unique example of Greeks emphasizing aestetical beauty over what was most economical or defensible.
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, yet every Greek city had an acropolis of its own. Acropolises were used as religious centers and places of worship, forts, and places in which the royal and high-status resided. Acropolises became the nuclei of large cities of classical ancient times, and served as important centers of a community. Some well-known acropolises have become the centers of tourism in present-day, and, especially, the Acropolis of Athens has been a revolutionary center for the studies of ancient Greece since the Mycenaean period. Many of them have become a source of revenue for Greece, and represent some great technology during the period.
Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greeks, or Hellenics, whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC.
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates for access to the city. From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Walls of Benin, Hadrian's Wall, Anastasian Wall, and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as letzis were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.
A fortification is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin fortis ("strong") and facere.
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar, to wall or cover formed structures.
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force and cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt.
The Stoa of Attalos was a stoa in the Agora of Athens, Greece. It was built by and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon, who ruled between 159 BC and 138 BC. The building was reconstructed from 1952 to 1956 by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and currently houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.
Ashlar is finely dressed stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.
Rustication is a range of masonry techniques used in classical architecture giving visible surfaces a finish texture that contrasts with smooth, squared-block masonry called ashlar. The visible face of each individual block is cut back around the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addition the central part of the face of each block may be given a deliberately rough or patterned surface.
Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typically seem unworked, but some may have been worked roughly with a hammer and the gaps between boulders filled in with smaller chunks of limestone.
Murus Dacicus is a construction method for defensive walls and fortifications developed in ancient Dacia sometime before the Roman conquest. It is a mix between traditional construction methods particular to Dacian builders and methods imported from Greek and Roman architecture and masonry, and – although somewhat similar construction techniques were used before, during and long after the period – it has peculiarities that make it unique.
Aigosthena was an ancient Greek fortified port city of Megaris, 19 km (12 mi) northwest of the ancient city of Megara to which it belonged. It is also the name of the coastal settlement at the foot of the ancient city walls, also known as Porto Germeno. The ancient citadel which stands at the foot of Mt Cithaeron and extends down to the sea at the inlet of Aigosthena, on the east side of the Gulf of Corinth, is famous for retaining several of the tallest surviving towers of ancient Greece.
Amantia was an ancient city and the main settlement of the Amantes, traditionally located in southern Illyria in classical antiquity. In Hellenistic times the city was either part of Illyria or Epirus. In Roman times it was included within Epirus Nova, in the province of Macedonia. The site has been identified with the village of Ploçë, Vlorë County, Albania. Amantia was designated as an archaeological park on 7 April 2003 by the government of Albania.
The Hexamilion wall was a defensive wall constructed across the Isthmus of Corinth, guarding the only land route onto the Peloponnese peninsula from mainland Greece.
Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar with an inner backfill of mortarless rubble and dirt.
Amos was a settlement (dēmē) of ancient Caria, located near the modern town of Turunç, Turkey.
The Dipylon was the main gate in the city wall of Classical Athens. Located in the modern suburb of Kerameikos, it led to the namesake ancient cemetery, and to the roads connecting Athens with the rest of Greece. The gate was of major ceremonial significance as the starting point of the procession of the Great Panathenaea, and accordingly it was a large, monumental structure, "the largest gate of the ancient world". Erected in 478 BC as part of Themistocles' fortification of Athens and rebuilt in the 300s BC, it remained standing and in use until the 3rd century AD.
The Walls of Thessaloniki are the 4 kilometer-long city walls surrounding the city of Thessaloniki during the Middle Ages and until the late 19th century, when large parts of the walls, including the entire seaward section, were demolished as part of the Ottoman authorities' restructuring of Thessaloniki's urban fabric. The city was fortified from its establishment in the late 4th century BC, but the present walls date from the early Byzantine period, ca. 390, and incorporate parts of an earlier, late 3rd-century wall. The walls consist of the typical late Roman mixed construction of ashlar masonry alternating with bands of brick. The northern part of the walls adjoins the acropolis of the city, which formed a separate fortified enceinte, and within it lies another citadel, the Heptapyrgion, popularly known by the Ottoman translation of the name, Yedi Kule.
In Cantabria, there is a big number of fortified towers that fulfilled functions of housing and defense. These buildings, generally battlements, were erected mostly between the 13th and 15th centuries by noble families and influenced significantly in the architecture of Cantabria, passing some to be forts-houses, prelude to the future casona montañesa. A curious fact is that there are not in the region circular towers, as yes happens in the neighboring community of Asturias. Currently of the towers that survives several are in a deplorable condition.
The Ahmed III Mosque, also known as the Acrocorinth Mosque or the Ahmed Pasha Mosque, is an Ottoman mosque located in the fortress of the Acrocorinth, in the Peloponnese, Greece. Built on the site of an earlier 16th-century mosque, the monument was commissioned by Sultan Ahmed III after the Ottoman reconquest of 1715. It now lies in a mostly ruinous state, abandoned and neglected, however it did undergo some restoration work in 2000.