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52-600: The Hexamilion stands at the most recent end of a long series of attempts to fortify the isthmus stretching back to perhaps the Mycenaean period. Many of the Peloponnesian cities wanted to pull back and fortify the isthmus instead of making a stand at Thermopylae when Xerxes invaded in 480 BC ( Herodotus' Histories 7.206). The issue arose again before the Battle of Salamis (Herodotos 8.40, 49, 56). Although

104-472: A basic productive unit of Late Roman and Early Byzantine times. The variety of skilled labor contributed by the Hexamilion garrison allowed for the creation of local granaries, allowing for intensified economic exploitation of the region. Despite this growth in developmental pace, the demands on the countryside and local economy fluctuated seasonally, with a notable intensification of economic activity during

156-539: A growing local frustration with the continuous funding and building of the wall. From its initial construction to its re-fortification and repairs throughout Justinian and Manuel II’s reign, the Hexamillion passed through many phases of use. However, the downfall of the wall can be attributed mainly to the invasions of the Ottoman Turks. In 1415, Byzantine emperor Manuel II personally supervised repairs over

208-677: A period of forty days, but the rigorous demands of this effort caused unrest among local elites. The wall was breached by the Ottomans in 1423, and again in 1431 under the command of Turahan Bey . Constantine Palaiologos , who was Despot of Morea before his accession to the throne of the Byzantine empire , and his brother Thomas restored the wall again in 1444, but the Ottomans breached it in 1446 and again in October 1452. The final fall of

260-421: A reference to the gates of Hades. Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there in 480 BC, in which an outnumbered Greek force probably of 7,000 (including 300 Spartans , 500 warriors from Tegea , 500 from Mantinea , 120 from Arcadian Orchomenos , 1,000 from the rest of Arcadia , 200 from Phlius , 80 from Mycenae , 400 Corinthians , 400 Thebans , 1,000 Phocians , 700 Thespians, and

312-438: A surprise to researchers given the gates' importance in connecting prominent cities. The construction style suggests they were built with haste and somewhat carelessly. The Northeast Gate was integrated with sluice gates for drainage, indicating a non-temporary residency. Exactly why the gates were sealed remains unknown. Explanations include the idea that locals may have blocked the gates themselves, as these events coincided with

364-469: A total number of 153, with forts at either end and the construction of Justinian's Fortress at Isthmia. The building of the Fortress at Isthmia was left mostly to autonomous work crews that, while following the same general instructions and using the same materials, operated in markedly different ways. As for the wall itself, local Corinthians – irrespective of politics or religion – would have contributed to

416-576: Is a narrow pass and modern town in Lamia , Phthiotis , Greece . It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs . In Greek mythology the Hot Gates is one of the entrances to Hades . Thermopylae is the site of the Battle of Thermopylae between the Greek forces (including Spartans , Thebans and Thespians) and the invading Persian forces, commemorated by Simonides of Ceos in the epitaph , "Go tell

468-422: The psiloi were the light infantry. Comitatenses regiments consisted of 1,024 soldiers. Comitatenses legions could consist of 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers. Some of these soldiers would be lightly armed, while others would be heavily armed. During a battle the army would divide into 3-4 divisions. The army might use a double phalanx to protect its rear. Reserves would be located behind or between each division. In

520-560: The Corinth Canal and at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia . Thermopylae Thermopylae ( / θ ər ˈ m ɒ p ɪ l iː / ; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa : Θερμοπύλαι , romanized :  Thermopylai ; Ancient: [tʰermopýlai] , Katharevousa: [θermoˈpile̞] ; Demotic Greek ( Greek ): Θερμοπύλες , romanized :  Thermopyles [θermoˈpiles] ; "hot gates")

572-488: The Opuntian Locrians ) held off a substantially larger force of Persians under Xerxes . Over 1,000 Greeks remained in the pass when most of the army retreated: the survivors from previous fighting of 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians, along with 400 Thebans whom the other Greeks forcibly held as hostages. Gaius Stern has argued that this force had already suffered casualties of over 100 in the previous fighting, so

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624-688: The Peloponnese . Diakos, after making a last stand at the bridge of Alamana with 48 of his men, was captured and killed. In 1941 during World War II the ANZAC forces delayed the invading Nazi forces in the area enough to allow the evacuation of the British expeditionary force to Crete . This conflict also became known as the Battle of Thermopylae. The sabotage of the Gorgopotamos bridge in 1942

676-467: The 21st century, the shoreline advanced by as much as 9 km (5.6 mi) in places, eliminating the narrowest points of the pass and considerably increasing the size of the plain around the outlet of the Spercheios. The A1 motorway linking Athens and Thessaloniki now follows the ancient shoreline and thus splits the pass; a modern-day monument to King Leonidas I of Sparta is situated on

728-663: The Great of Syria attempted in vain to hold the pass against the Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio . At an uncertain date in the mid 3rd century AD, the Germanic tribe of Heruli were defeated by a Roman force sent to stop them. In 997, the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel invaded Greece and advanced as far as the Peloponnese . On his return, he was met by a Byzantine army under Nikephoros Ouranos at Spercheios. As

780-495: The Hexamilion wall. The graves were created over a span of many decades and contained women and children, suggesting that soon after its initial construction, the Fortress' maintenance passed over to local residents. During the later sixth and early seventh century, both the Northeast and South Gates of the Fortress were sealed with thick walls, effectively blocking the busy roadways to Athens, Corinth, and Epidaurus. This comes as

832-515: The Late Roman Empire the army was divided into two major units, the limitanei border guards and mobile armies consisting of comitatenses . The limitanei would deal with smaller raids, or, in the case of larger invasions, try to defend or stall long enough for the comitatenses legions to arrive. These comitatenses would be grouped into field armies . This strategy has been described as " defense in depth ." To conserve manpower ,

884-534: The Sanctuary of Poseidon were evenly distributed and converted into the main entrance of the wall in an emplecton building technique in the first century. Spolia (voussoirs, column drums, and inscribed blocks) were incorporated into both the structure and roadway. The fortress was intimately tied into the defensive network, a fact readily demonstrated by similarities in construction techniques used. The fortress consisted of nineteen rectangular towers protruding from

936-603: The Spartans, stranger passing by, That here we lie, having answered our common oaths." Thermopylae is the only land route large enough to bear any significant traffic between Lokris and Thessaly . To go from north to south along the east coast of the Balkans requires use of the pass. In ancient times it was called Malis, named after the Malians ( Ancient Greek : Μαλιεῖς ), a Greek tribe that lived near present-day Lamia at

988-441: The Spercheios river and is surrounded by sloping forested limestone mountains. There is continuous deposition of sediment from the river and travertine deposits from the hot springs which has substantially altered the landscape during the past few thousand years. The land surface on which the famous Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC is now buried under 20 metres (66 ft) of soil. The shoreline has also advanced over

1040-560: The Trans-Isthmian wall occurred during a battle between Constantine and the Turks starting on November 27, 1446. Murad II , commander of a Turkish army said to have consisted of 50,000 to 60,000 men, supposedly lined the entirety of the wall with heavy artillery of long cannons (new weapons at the time), siege engines and scaling ladders. According to Chalkokondyles' vivid account of the assault, after five days of fighting Murad signaled

1092-516: The backbone of the Roman military since the late republic. Units such as the Joviani and Herculiani had 5,000 soldiers and 726–800 cavalrymen. Many units' sizes would vary. There were three types of units, the heavy infantry , medium infantry , and light infantry . The comitatenses were the heavy infantry. The auxiliaries , auxilia palatina , and the peltasts were the medium infantry, and

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1144-614: The centuries because of the sedimentary deposition. The level of the Malian Gulf was also significantly higher during prehistoric times, and the Spercheios River was significantly shorter. Its shoreline advanced by up to 2 kilometers between 2500 BC and 480 BC but has still left several narrow passages between the sea and the mountains. The narrowest point on the plain, where the battle was probably fought, would have been less than 100 metres (330 ft) wide. Between 480 BC and

1196-571: The concept of a "Fortress Peloponnese" had been repeatedly suggested, fortification of the isthmus was of no utility without control of the sea, as Herodotus notes (7.138). The wall was constructed from AD 408 and 450, in the reign of Theodosius II during the time of the great Barbarian invasions into the Roman Empire . Its purpose was to protect the Peloponnese from invasion from the north. The attack of Alaric on Greece in 396 or

1248-634: The delta of the river Spercheios in Greece . The Malian Gulf is also named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios their land was adjacent to the Aenianes . Their main town was named Trachis . In the town of Anthela , the Malians had an important Temple of Demeter Amphictyonis , an early center of the Anthelan Amphictyony . The land is dominated by the coastal floodplain of

1300-405: The distribution of wealth within the local economy, and likely attracted many skilled laborers to the region. Multiple archeological finds support the idea that, during its construction, re-fortification and even after its completion, locals may have opposed the construction of the wall. One such piece of evidence was the discovery of graffiti scratched onto the rear face just west of Tower 15, This

1352-546: The divine hero Heracles tried to cleanse himself of the Hydra's poison there. The first known Amphictyony , a group of religiously associated ancient Greek tribes, was centered on the cult of Demeter at the city of Anthela , near Thermopylae. The delegates to this first Amphictyony were dubbed the Pylagorai ("gate-assemblers"); since Demeter had chthonic or underworld associations in many of her older cults, this may be

1404-419: The east side of the highway, directly across the road from the hill where Simonides' epitaph to the fallen is engraved in stone at the top. Thermopylae is part of the "horseshoe of Maliakos ", also known as the "horseshoe of death": it is the narrowest part of the highway connecting the north and the south of Greece. It has many turns and has been the site of many vehicular accidents. The hot springs from which

1456-461: The final attack, and on December 10, 1446, the Hexamilion was no more than a heap of ruins. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Ottoman conquest of the Peloponnese in 1460, the wall was abandoned. During its history, the wall never succeeded in fulfilling the function for which it was constructed, although it may have functioned as a deterrent. Elements of the wall are preserved south of

1508-544: The general would do his best to avoid a pitched battle . Rather than attack the enemy, the legions would form a shield wall and wait for the enemy to attack the Romans. The Romans would use their superior coordination to defeat the enemy. The Emperor would command a comitatenses field army to put down rebellions . Comitatenses is the Latin nominative plural of comitatensis , an adjective derived from comitatus ('company, party, suite'; in this military context it came to

1560-445: The graves found during the excavations between 1954 and 1976. These were located inexplicably at the base of a staircase leading to an upper fighting platform . They appear to have been placed roughly a decade after the wall's initial completion. The construction of one of the graves resulted in the removal of the bottom tread of the staircase, undermining the functionality of one of the most strategically important points of defense along

1612-405: The great mass of the 7.5 km long wall (which was 7m high and 3m thick) many structures in the region were cannibalized for stone for the effort. Some structures were incorporated into the wall directly (as was the temple of Poseidon at Isthmia ) whereas some were burned into lime (as was the sanctuary of Hera at Perachora , as well as much of the ancient statuary of Corinth ). Materials from

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1664-457: The local population as well. The acquisition of land and clearing of buildings along the route of the wall led to conflict with individual property holders. In addition to its defensive role, the wall likely functioned as a means to entrench state control over local affairs. While the scale of the repairs on the Hexamilion wall during Justinian's reign suggests the fortification project would have provided employment to local laborers, which influenced

1716-575: The novel meaning of 'the field army'), itself derived from comes ('companion', but hence specific historical meanings, military and civilian). However, historically it became the accepted (substantiated) name for those Roman imperial troops ( legions and auxiliary) which were not merely garrisoned at a limes (fortified border, on the Rhine and Danube in Europe and near Persia and the desert tribes elsewhere)—the limitanei or ripenses , i.e. "along

1768-520: The pass derives its name still exist close to the foot of the hill. Thermopylae means "hot gates", referring to the area’s hot sulfur springs . The location was also associated with the cavernous entrance to Hades , the underworld in Greek mythology , which was said to be at Thermopylae. According to one version of the Labours of Heracles , it was said that the waters at Thermopylae became hot because

1820-481: The physical construction of the Hexamilion and the maintenance of any associated garrisons. Military use appears to have fallen off after the 7th century, and by the 11th century domestic structures were being built into the wall. The strategic fortress of Isthmia, taking advantage of favorable terrain, was located to the southern side of the Hexamilion wall, north-east of the Poseidon Sanctuary. The wall

1872-620: The river was flooded, both sides encamped on opposite sides without action. Confident that the Byzantines could not cross the river, the Bulgarians relaxed their guard and were taken by surprise when Byzantine scouts discovered a ford further upriver. In 1821, a force of Greek fighters led by Athanasios Diakos made a stand near the pass to stop a force of 8,000 Turks from marching down from Thessaly to put down revolts in Roumeli and

1924-573: The sack of Rome in 410 by the Visigoths may have motivated its construction. The wall ran from the Gulf of Corinth to the Saronic Gulf , covering a distance of 7,028 and 7,760 meters. The fortress contained two gates (north and south), of which the northern gate functioned as the formal entrance to the Peloponnese. In the reign of Justinian , the wall was fortified with additional towers, reaching

1976-400: The sea, as it was designed to counter only overland threats, and did not even project into the sea on either side. This being said, we may never determine the true intentions of those who carved these images in the mortar. The may have been a simple expression of playfulness, devoid of broader meaning. A second example which supports the idea of local opposition to the wall's construction were

2028-454: The soldiers produced some of their own food through farming south of the Hexamilion, although major aid came also from local farmers, merchants, artisans, and workmen, including from other nearby towns, such as Corinth. A system of rural villas supplied a considerable share of goods and services also; such villae rusticae being an important part of the economic exchange system of the Empire, and

2080-436: The state of the soldiers that manned the fortification at Thermopylae prior to Justinian’s reign; namely, local farmers who proved to be incapable of checking the advance of various invaders and so were replaced by comitatenses . As part of his repairs to the wall, Justinian established a professional military garrison within the Fortress of Isthmia, which replaced the local farmers who previously manned it. To bolster supplies,

2132-543: The timing of the Hexamilion gate repairs during the reign of Justinian. It may be the case that the local population of Isthmia resisted this alteration of their land (which would have turned it into a major thoroughfare) and acted independently to retain the status quo. Archeological findings seem to reinforce the idea of a cyclic pattern of imperial concerns followed by local indifference and opposition to Hexamilion wall and its upkeep. Quite apart from petty graffiti protests and grave marker placements intended to “demilitarize”

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2184-460: The true number might be closer to 1,250 than 1,400. For three days they held a narrow route between hills and the sea against Xerxes' vast cavalry and infantry force, before being outflanked on the third day via an obscure goat path named the Anopaea Pass. According to the Greek legend, a traitor named Ephialtes of Trachis showed the path to the invaders. The following epitaph by Simonides

2236-415: The wall between renovations during Justinian and Manuel II's reigns. Most damaging was perhaps the earthquake of 551 , which Procopius mentions as being particularly destructive to Greece as a whole. The garrison of the fortress of Isthmia in the 5th century likely consisted of four to eight tagmata . Historians believe the quality and state of the troops were similar to that of Procopius' descriptions of

2288-501: The wall, open revolts have also been associated with the construction and maintenance of the Hexamilion. The re-fortification of the Isthmus in an effort to counter the invasion of the Ottoman Turks in 1415 CE during Emperor Manuel II 's reign led to an open revolt among the local population, which was put down by force. Manuel II saw the opposition as open resistance to the reinstatement of imperial control, whereas Chrysoloras documents

2340-457: The walls of its 2.7-hectare total area, and more than likely housed the military garrison that defended the Hexamilion as a whole. The main passageway through the wall was through the Isthmia fortress, where the north-east gate acted as the main entrance into the Peloponnese. It is likely that the fortifications were damaged severely by earthquakes, which contributed to the rapid deterioration of

2392-422: The warmer seasons. Likewise, the garrison's presence strained both the environment and local economy during the off-season, when their skills were not in use. This created a cyclical local economy based on the presence of troops, where demand and production were in constant flux. During its initial construction, the Hexamilion significantly restricted the number of passages into the Peloponnese. The road from Athens

2444-599: Was caused by a large fine imposed on the Phocians in 357 BC for cultivating sacred land. The Spartans, who were also fined in that war, actually never fought in it as they were later pardoned. In 279 BC a Gallic army led by Brennus initially engaged the Aetolians who were forced to make a tactical retreat and who were finally routed by the Thessalians and Malians by the river Spercheios . In 191 BC Antiochus III

2496-563: Was constructed with a rubble and mortar core faced with squared stones. The blocks on the northern facade were larger and coalesced with more carefully implemented edges, while the southern face was conceived of smaller stones set in mortar. It is not certain how long it took to complete, but the importance given to the task is apparent from the scale of the construction; the Hexamilion is the largest archaeological structure in Greece. Due to

2548-446: Was made to pass directly through the eastern fortress towards Corinth to the west and Epidaurus to the east. This transformed the fortress of Isthmia and its attendant wall section into the main overland connection to southern Greece. The wall's guarded gateways allowed for taxation of incoming and outgoing trade, which helped boost the local economy of the region. The Hexamilion wall likely had both short and long-term negative effects on

2600-458: Was referred in German documents of the era as "the recent sabotage near Thermopylae". 38°48′19″N 22°33′46″E  /  38.80528°N 22.56278°E  / 38.80528; 22.56278 Comitatenses The comitatenses and later the palatini were the units of the field armies of the late Roman Empire . They were the soldiers that replaced the legionaries , who had formed

2652-463: Was undoubtedly made by individuals associated with the wall's initial construction or repair, as the etching occurred before the mortar had time to harden. The image depicts two galleys and a different kind of vessel seen as a boarding device suggesting naval combat and the notion of the Hexamlion’s lack of defense from seaborne threats. As Frey notes, the Hexamilion could not defend against attack from

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2704-566: Was written on the monument: "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie." (Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.) In 353 BC/352 BC during the Third Sacred War , fought mainly between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon , and the Phocians. The war

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