Hellenistic Fortifications from the Aegean to the Euphrates

A unique, major survey of the magnificent fortifications built all over Greece in the Hellenistic period (c.4th-1st centuries BC). Among the most impressive of ancient remains, they provide fascinating evidence of secular classical architecture, as well as insights on the political history of Hellenistic Greece.

The fortifications built around Greek cities for their defence and protection are among the most impressive of ancient remains. In breadth and detail Anthony McNicoll analysed and illustrated over a score of fortified sites on the basis of personal knowledge and inspection, ranging from Ephesus and Assos on the Aegean to Dura Europus on the Euphrates, and spanning the development from the fourth-century Mausolean great circuit of Halicarnassus to the first-century cross-wall at Miletus. The individual studies provide a valuable publication of some little known material and support not only a technical and architectural history, but an explanation of what was built in broader terms. Anthony McNicoll''s Oxford doctoral thesis `Hellenistic Fortifications from Aegean to the Euphrates'' was much acknowledged by A. W. Lawrence (the author of Greek Aims in Fortification, OUP 1979), and has been highly praised by a number of scholars who have consulted it. Revised here for publication, it has been updated in the light of recent scholarship in a final chapter by N. P. Milner.