City walls: Did you mean...?

A detail of the Hellenistic fortification walls of Butrint (modern Albania) employing large polygonal blocks. 2nd century BCE.

A section of the outer limestone walls of Zakimi castle, Okinawa, Japan. The Ryukyu Kingdom, 15th century CE.

This is a picture of the defensive walls of Castelgrande along with the Black Tower (Italian: Torre Nero) in the foreground and White Tower (Italian: Torre Bianca) in the background. The Castelgrande is one of three major castles in Bellinzona...

The fortification walls and Kankaimon gate of Shuri Castle, Okinawa, Japan. 14th century CE.

Siege tactics were a crucial part of medieval warfare, especially from the 11th century CE when castles became more widespread in Europe and sieges outnumbered pitched battles. Castles and fortified cities offered protection to both the local...

Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers, its...

The siege of Antioch in 1097-1098 CE occurred during the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE) when the western Crusader knights were on their way to retake Jerusalem. The great metropolis of Antioch in northern Syria was heavily fortified, and it...

Carthago Nova (modern-day Cartagena) was a city on the southern Iberian Peninsula, Spain, originally known as Mastia. Human habitation of the region predates the Neolithic Period, but the area around the site of Carthago Nova seems to have...

This clay tablet fragment gives detailed measurements for the inner city wall called Imgur-Enlil at the start of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign. It names landmarks including Zababa and Urash gates. Modern surveys show that the figures are realistic...

Founded in 782 BCE, Erebuni Fortress is older than the ancient city of Rome. The fortress was the chief administrative center for several generations of Urartian kings. It is considered by many historians and archaeologists to be the finest...