City walls: Did you mean...?

The city of Babylon was once the most famous cultural and religious center of the ancient world and, in fact, was understood as the center of the world according to an ancient map. It did not acquire its reputation as a “city of sin” until...

Amongst the most formidable structures ever built by the Romans would be the massive triple layered walls of Constantinople. Today we dive into the details of this superstructure! Sources: Uniforms of the Roman World by Kevin Kiley The...

The walls of Lugo in northern Spain were built in the later part of the 3rd century A.D. to defend the Roman town of Lucus. The entire circuit survives intact and is the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western Europe. Source...

The English word 'wall' is derived from the Latin, vallus meaning 'a stake' or 'post' and designated the wood-stake and earth palisade which formed the outer edge of a fortification. The palisades were in use early on and are mentioned by...

A detail of the roof of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, part of the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City, Beijing. The temple and the Forbidden City were first built in the reign of Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (r. 1403-1424...

A map illustrating the city-states of Classical Greece around 500 BCE and depicting the expansion of Hellenic influence along the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black sea and the formation and scope of the Delian League, under Athenian hegemony...

A modern reconstruction of the Old City of Jerusalem, as it would have appeared in the late 1st Century BCE. Located in Israel.

Nighttime in a City, Persian manuscript folio attributed to Mir Sayyid ‘Ali, Tabriz, Iran, c. 1540. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of John Goelet, formerly in the collection of Louis J. Cartier.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, part of the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City, Beijing. The temple and the Forbidden City were first built in the reign of Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (r. 1403-1424 CE)

Rath & Wright's Buffalo Hide Yard in Dodge City, Kansas, showing 40,000 buffalo hides. According to eyewitness accounts, such as those of Old Lady Horse of the Kiowa Nation, this became a common sight in the latter part of the 19th century...