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111-628: Historically, a Vorstadt ("suburb" in German) was a settlement outside the city walls , sometimes dedicated to specific trades . Later, large Vorstädte appeared in the Gründerzeit era. Places named Vorstadt include Vorstadt (Königsberg) and Oranienburger Vorstadt . Its French equivalent is faubourg , the Dutch equivalent is Voorstad , e.g. Voorstad St. Jacob in Roermond . In Vienna ,

222-545: A Qing incursion in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before bastion forts could spread any further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were largely forgotten as the Qing dynasty was on the offensive most of the time and had no use for them. In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of forts around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also,

333-524: A 19th-century BC ruler of Uruk named Naram-sin. Uruk continued as principality of Ur, Babylon, and later Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Parthian Empires. It enjoyed brief periods of independence during the Isin-Larsa period , under kings such as (possibly Ikūn-pî-Ištar , Sumu-binasa, Alila-hadum, and Naram-Sin), Sîn-kāšid , his son Sîn-irībam, his son Sîn-gāmil, Ilum-gāmil, brother of Sîn-gāmil , Etēia, AN-am 3 (Dingiram), ÌR 3 -ne-ne ( Irdanene ), who

444-509: A bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand ancient (non-gunpowder) siege engines. European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. When referring to

555-418: A city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls 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

666-490: A cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" to be ridiculous and

777-610: A façade treatment was greatly developed as well, perhaps used to greatest effect in the Cone-Mosaic Temple. Composed of three parts: Temple N, the Round Pillar Hall, and the Cone-Mosaic Courtyard, this temple was the most monumental structure of Eanna at the time. They were all ritually destroyed and the entire Eanna district was rebuilt in period IVa at an even grander scale. During Eanna IVa,

888-454: A ground rampart . The city was fortified with six city gates with each gate flanked by massive brick towers. In other areas of Southeast Asia, city walls spread in the 16th and 17th century along with the rapid growth of cities in this period as a need to defend against European naval attack. Ayutthaya built its walls in 1550 and Banten , Jepara , Tuban and Surabaya all had theirs by 1600; while Makassar had theirs by 1634. A sea wall

999-743: A maximum thickness of 43 metres and an average thickness of 20–30 metres. Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top. In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire , whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across

1110-535: A minimal cost. Warka was also scouted by archaeologist Walter Andrae in 1902. In 1905 Warka was visited by archaeologist Edgar James Banks . From 1912 to 1913, Julius Jordan and his team from the German Oriental Society discovered the temple of Ishtar , one of four known temples located at the site. The temples at Uruk were quite remarkable as they were constructed with brick and adorned with colorful mosaics . Jordan also discovered part of

1221-412: A monumental limestone-paved staircase and a trough running parallel to the staircase was used to drain the ziggurat. The Eanna district is historically significant as both writing and monumental public architecture emerged here during Uruk periods VI–IV. The combination of these two developments places Eanna as arguably the first true city and civilization in human history. Eanna during period IVa contains

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1332-674: A new form and under a new name, 'The House of Inanna in Uruk' (Sumerian: e₂-ᵈinanna unuᵏⁱ-ga ). The location of this structure is currently unknown. Although it had been a thriving city in Early Dynastic Sumer, especially Early Dynastic II, Uruk was ultimately annexed by the Akkadian Empire and went into decline. Later, in the Neo-Sumerian period, Uruk enjoyed revival as a major economic and cultural center under

1443-555: A provincial capital. Under the Neo-Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians , Uruk regained much of its former glory. By 250 BC, a new temple complex the 'Head Temple' (Akkadian: Bīt Reš ) was added to northeast of the Uruk period Anu district. The Bīt Reš along with the Esagila was one of the two main centers of Neo-Babylonian astronomy . All of the temples and canals were restored again under Nabopolassar . During this era, Uruk

1554-423: A purely military and defensive purpose, towers also played a representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. The architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noblemen and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte , were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into

1665-422: A response to gunpowder artillery, European fortifications began displaying architectural principles such as lower and thicker walls in the mid-1400s. Cannon towers were built with artillery rooms where cannons could discharge fire from slits in the walls. However, this proved problematic as the slow rate of fire, reverberating concussions, and noxious fumes produced greatly hindered defenders. Gun towers also limited

1776-547: A shift in the Euphrates River. By 300 AD, Uruk was mostly abandoned, but a group of Mandaeans settled there, and by c. 700 AD it was completely abandoned. Uruk played a very important part in the political history of Sumer. Starting from the Early Uruk period, the city exercised hegemony over nearby settlements. At this time ( c. 3800 BC), there were two centers of 20 hectares, Uruk in

1887-556: A single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers – this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. An early example of such a compound was the Legation Quarter in Beijing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these modern city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow

1998-591: A single chamber cella with a terrazzo floor beneath which bucrania were found. In phase E, corresponding to the Uruk III period (c. 3200–3000 BC), the White Temple was built. The White Temple could be seen from a great distance across the plain of Sumer, as it was elevated 21 m and covered in gypsum plaster which reflected sunlight like a mirror. In addition to this temple the Anu Ziggurat had

2109-477: A very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen , a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. Andrade goes on to note that

2220-543: Is 3 km (1.9 miles) north/south, and 2.5 km (1.6 miles) east/west. There are three major tells within the site: The Eanna district, Bit Resh (Kullaba), and Irigal. Archaeologically, the site is divided into six parts 1) the É-Anna ziggurat ' Egipar-imin, 2) the É-Anna enclosure (Zingel), 3) the Anu-Antum temple complex, BitRes and Anu-ziggurat, 4) Irigal, the South Building, 5) Parthian structures including

2331-669: Is built on structures from earlier periods dating back to the Ubaid period . According to the SKL , Uruk was founded by the king Enmerkar . Though the king-list mentions a father before him, the epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta relates that Enmerkar constructed the House of Heaven (Sumerian: e₂-anna ; cuneiform: 𒂍𒀭 E₂.AN) for the goddess Inanna in the Eanna District of Uruk. In

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2442-416: Is clear Eanna was dedicated to Inanna from the earliest Uruk period throughout the history of the city. The rest of the city was composed of typical courtyard houses, grouped by profession of the occupants, in districts around Eanna and Anu. Uruk was extremely well penetrated by a canal system that has been described as " Venice in the desert". This canal system flowed throughout the city connecting it with

2553-481: Is of Solnitsata , built in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar , who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate . The Persians built defensive walls to protect their territories, notably

2664-453: Is the type site for the Uruk period . Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. By the final phase of the Uruk period around 3100 BC, the city may have had 40,000 residents, with 80,000–90,000 people living in its environs, making it the largest urban area in the world at the time. King Gilgamesh , according to the chronology presented in

2775-754: Is the Romanian Bran Castle , which was intended to protect nearby Kronstadt (today's Braşov ). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls. Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschhorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim , Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into

2886-611: The Epic of Gilgamesh , Gilgamesh builds the city wall around Uruk and is king of the city. Uruk went through several phases of growth, from the Early Uruk period (4000–3500 BC) to the Late Uruk period (3500–3100 BC). The city was formed when two smaller Ubaid settlements merged. The temple complexes at their cores became the Eanna District and the Anu District dedicated to Inanna and Anu , respectively. The Anu District

2997-663: The Sumerian King List ( SKL ), ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. After the end of the Early Dynastic period, marked by the rise of the Akkadian Empire , the city lost its prime importance. It had periods of florescence during the Isin-Larsa period, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods and throughout the Achaemenid (550–330 BC), Seleucid (312–63 BC) and Parthian (227 BC to AD 224) periods until it

3108-516: The Aramaic Uruk incantation . The last dated cuneiform tablet from Uruk was W22340a, an astronomical almanac, which is dated to 79/80 AD. The oldest known writing to feature a person's name was found in Uruk, in the form of several tablets that mention Kushim , who (assuming they are an individual person) served as an accountant recording transactions made in trading barley – 29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim . Beveled rim bowls were

3219-810: The Derbent Wall and the Great Wall of Gorgan built on the either sides of the Caspian Sea against nomadic nations. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were also fortified. By about 3500   BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighboring communities quarreled constantly about

3330-529: 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

3441-745: The Warring States (481–221   BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang dynasty (618–907   AD). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin dynasty (221–207   BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644   AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise,

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3552-469: The city wall . It was later discovered that this 40-to-50-foot (12 to 15 m) high brick wall, probably utilized as a defense mechanism, totally encompassed the city at a length of 9 km (5.6 mi). Utilizing sedimentary strata dating techniques, this wall is estimated to have been erected around 3000 BC. Jordan produced a contour map of the entire site. The GOS returned to Uruk in 1928 and excavated until 1939, when World War II intervened. The team

3663-678: The 'Great Sanctuary' (Cuneiform: E₂.IRI₁₂.GAL, Sumerian: eš-gal) of Ishtar was added between the Anu and Eanna districts. The ziggurat of the temple of Anu, which was rebuilt in this period, was the largest ever built in Mesopotamia. When the Seleucids lost Mesopotamia to the Parthians in 141 BC, Uruk continued in use. The decline of Uruk after the Parthians may have been in part caused by

3774-576: The 'Sumerian Mona Lisa ', dating from 3100 BC, is one of the earliest representations of the human face. The carved marble female face is probably a depiction of Inanna. It is approximately 20 cm tall, and may have been incorporated into a larger cult image. The mask was looted from the Iraq Museum during the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. It was recovered in September 2003 and returned to

3885-734: The 16th century. The bastion and star fort was developed in Italy, where the Florentine engineer Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) compiled a comprehensive defensive plan using the geometric bastion and full trace italienne that became widespread in Europe. The main distinguishing features of the star fort were its angle bastions, each placed to support their neighbor with lethal crossfire, covering all angles, making them extremely difficult to engage with and attack. Angle bastions consisted of two faces and two flanks. Artillery positions positioned at

3996-495: The 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value – on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored ( Carcassonne ), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria , which led to

4107-485: The Arabic name of the present-day country of al-ʿIrāq is often thought to be derived directly from the name Uruk , it is more likely loaned via Middle Persian ( Erāq ) and then Aramaic ’yrg , which nonetheless may still ultimately refer to the Uruk region of southern Mesopotamia. In myth and literature, Uruk was famous as the capital city of Gilgamesh , hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh . Scholars identify Uruk as

4218-454: The Eanna and Anu Districts. Temple N, Cone-Mosaic Courtyard, and Round Pillar Hall are often referred to as a single structure; the Cone-Mosaic Temple. It is clear Eanna was dedicated to Inanna symbolized by Venus from the Uruk period. At that time, she was worshipped in four aspects as Inanna of the netherworld (Sumerian: ᵈinanna-kur), Inanna of the morning (Sumerian: ᵈinanna-hud₂), Inanna of

4329-647: The Early Dynastic IIIb period (2500–2334 BC), also called the Pre-Sargonic period (before the rise of the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad ), Uruk continued to be ruled by Ur. Dynastic categorizations are described solely from the Sumerian King List , which is of problematic historical accuracy; the organization might be analogous to Manetho's . In 2009, two different copies of an inscription were put forth as evidence of

4440-461: The English translation of the same. The stratigraphy of the site is complex and as such much of the dating is disputed. In general, the structures follow the two main typologies of Sumerian architecture , Tripartite with 3 parallel halls and T-Shaped also with three halls, but the central one extends into two perpendicular bays at one end. The following table summarizes the significant architecture of

4551-568: The French "braggarts by nature". Very rarely did cannons blast breaches in city walls in Chinese warfare. This may have been partly due to cultural tradition. Famous military commanders such as Sun Tzu and Zheng Zhilong recommended not to directly attack cities and storm their walls. Even when direct assaults were made with cannons, it was usually by focusing on the gates rather than the walls. There were instances where cannons were used against walled fortifications, such as by Koxinga , but only in

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4662-639: The Gareus-temple, and the Multiple Apse building, 6) the "Gilgameš" city-wall with associated Sinkâsid Palace and the Seleucid Bit Akîtu. The location of Uruk was first noted by Fraser and Ross in 1835. William Loftus excavated there in 1850 and 1854 after a scouting mission in 1849. By Loftus' own account, he admits that the first excavations were superficial at best, as his financiers forced him to deliver large museum artifacts at

4773-731: The German Archaeological Institute in Baghdad as Jan J. A. Djik, Hermann Hunger , Antoine Cavigneaux, Egbert von Weiher , and Karlheinz Kessler  [ de ] , or others as Erlend Gehlken. Many of the cuneiform tablets form acquisitions by museums and collections as the British Museum , Yale Babylonian Collection , and the Louvre . The latter holds a unique cuneiform tablet in Aramaic known as

4884-538: The German archaeologists spent 39 seasons working at Uruk. The results are documented in two series of reports: Most recently, from 2001 to 2002, the German Archaeological Institute team led by Margarete van Ess, with Joerg Fassbinder and Helmut Becker, conducted a partial magnetometer survey in Uruk. In addition to the geophysical survey, core samples and aerial photographs were taken. This

4995-819: The Golden Age. During the Early Dynastic II period (2800–2600 BC), Uruk was again the dominant city exercising control of Sumer. This period is the time of the First Dynasty of Uruk sometimes called the Heroic Age. However, by the Early Dynastic IIIa period (2600–2500 BC) Uruk had lost sovereignty, this time to Ur. This period, corresponding to the Early Bronze Age III, is the end of the First Dynasty of Uruk. In

5106-765: The Limestone Temple was demolished and the Red Temple built on its foundations. The accumulated debris of the Uruk IVb buildings were formed into a terrace , the L-Shaped Terrace, on which Buildings C, D, M, Great Hall, and Pillar Hall were built. Building E was initially thought to be a palace, but later proven to be a communal building. Also in period IV, the Great Court, a sunken courtyard surrounded by two tiers of benches covered in cone mosaic,

5217-432: The Riemchen Building. In the following period, Uruk V, about 100 m east of the Stone-Cone Temple the Limestone Temple was built on a 2 m high rammed-earth podium over a pre-existing Ubaid temple, which like the Stone-Cone Temple represents a continuation of Ubaid culture. However, the Limestone Temple was unprecedented for its size and use of stone, a clear departure from traditional Ubaid architecture. The stone

5328-506: The Stone Temple, has been discovered. The Stone Temple was built of limestone and bitumen on a podium of rammed earth and plastered with lime mortar. The podium itself was built over a woven reed mat called ĝipar , which was ritually used as a nuptial bed. The ĝipar was a source of generative power which then radiated upward into the structure. The structure of the Stone Temple further develops some mythological concepts from Enuma Elish , perhaps involving libation rites as indicated from

5439-687: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus . Exceptions were few, but neither ancient Sparta nor ancient Rome had walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defense instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . The Romans later fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. Among these are

5550-410: The appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states , and energetic wall-building continued into the medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts , ringworks , early castles and

5661-523: The biblical Erech ( Genesis 10:10), the second city founded by Nimrod in Shinar . In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the main force of urbanization and state formation during the Uruk period, or 'Uruk expansion' (4000–3200 BC). This period of 800 years saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to a larger urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military, and stratified society. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk, they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk

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5772-411: The cardinal directions, a central hall flanked along the long axis by two smaller halls, and buttressed façades; the prototype of all future Mesopotamian temple architectural typology . Between these two monumental structures a complex of buildings (called A–C, E–K, Riemchen, Cone-Mosaic), courts, and walls was built during Eanna IVb. These buildings were built during a time of great expansion in Uruk as

5883-427: The case of small villages. During Koxinga's career, there is only one recorded case of capturing a settlement by bombarding its walls: the siege of Taizhou in 1658. In 1662, the Dutch found that bombarding the walls of a town in Fujian Province had no effect and they focused on the gates instead just as in Chinese warfare. In 1841, a 74-gun British warship bombarded a Chinese coastal fort near Guangzhou and found that it

5994-512: The channels, tanks, and vessels found there. The structure was ritually destroyed, covered with alternating layers of clay and stone, then excavated and filled with mortar sometime later. The Anu Ziggurat began with a massive mound topped by a cella during the Uruk period (c. 4000 BC), and was expanded through 14 phases of construction. These phases have been labeled L to A₃ ( L is sometimes called X ). The earliest phase used architectural features similar to PPNA cultures in Anatolia :

6105-416: The circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of

6216-644: The city grew to 250 hectares and established long-distance trade, and are a continuation of architecture from the previous period. The Riemchen Building, named for the 16×16 cm brick shape called Riemchen by the Germans, is a memorial with a ritual fire kept burning in the center for the Stone-Cone Temple after it was destroyed. For this reason, Uruk IV period represents a reorientation of belief and culture. The facade of this memorial may have been covered in geometric and figural murals. The Riemchen bricks first used in this temple were used to construct all buildings of Uruk IV period Eanna. The use of colored cones as

6327-475: The city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. An example of this practice

6438-421: The construction of the "European Rampart" alongside its border with Russia to be able to successfully apply for a visa-free movement with the European Union. At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons . North of the Alps, this passageway at

6549-507: The control of prime agricultural land. Mundigak ( c.  2500   BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. The concept of a city fully enclosed by walls was not fully developed in Southeast Asia until the arrival of Europeans. However, Burma serves an exception, as they had a longer tradition of fortified walled towns; towns in Burma had city walls by 1566. Besides that, Rangoon in 1755 had stockades made of teak logs on

6660-424: The decline of Uruk. Archeologists have discovered multiple cities of Uruk built atop each other in chronological order. Unlike the Eanna district, the Anu district consists of a single massive terrace, the Anu Ziggurat , dedicated to the Sumerian sky god Anu . Sometime in the Uruk III period the massive White Temple was built atop the ziggurat. Under the northwest edge of the ziggurat an Uruk VI period structure,

6771-424: The defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen , and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg . Additional constructions prevented

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6882-446: The defensive strategy of the city (e.g. Nuremberg , Zons , Carcassonne ), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards – for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a clerical city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. Uruk Uruk , known today as Warka ,

6993-465: The earliest examples of writing. The first building of Eanna , Stone-Cone Temple (Mosaic Temple), was built in period VI over a preexisting Ubaid temple and is enclosed by a limestone wall with an elaborate system of buttresses . The Stone-Cone Temple, named for the mosaic of colored stone cones driven into the adobe brick façade, may be the earliest water cult in Mesopotamia. It was "destroyed by force" in Uruk IVb period and its contents interred in

7104-404: The earliest recorded writing , dating to approximately 3300 BC. Later cuneiform tablets were deciphered and include the famous SKL , a record of kings of the Sumerian civilization. There was an even larger cache of legal and scholarly tablets of the Neo-Babylonian , Late Babylonian , and Seleucid period, that have been published by Adam Falkenstein and other Assyriological members of

7215-417: The early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. Several medieval town walls have survived into

7326-455: The empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly

7437-576: The energy of artillery shots. Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to a highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. Starting from the Song dynasty these walls were improved with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. Most Chinese walls were also sloped rather than vertical to better deflect projectile energy. The defensive response to cannon in Europe

7548-414: The evening (Sumerian: ᵈinanna-sig), and Inanna (Sumerian: ᵈinanna-NUN). The names of four temples in Uruk at this time are known, but it is impossible to match them with either a specific structure and in some cases a deity. The site, which lies about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of ancient Ur , is one of the largest in the region at around 5.5 km (2.1 sq mi) in area. The maximum extent

7659-431: The evolution of writing ; writing may have originated in Uruk around 3300 BC. Evidence from excavations such as extensive pottery and the earliest known tablets of writing support these events. Excavation of Uruk is highly complex because older buildings were recycled into newer ones, thus blurring the layers of different historic periods. The topmost layer most likely originated in the Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BC) and

7770-404: The flanks could fire parallel into the opposite bastion's line of fire, thus providing two lines of cover fire against an armed assault on the wall, and preventing mining parties from finding refuge. Meanwhile, artillery positioned on the bastion platform could fire frontally from the two faces, also providing overlapping fire with the opposite bastion. Overlapping mutually supporting defensive fire

7881-440: The historical Vorstädte need to be distinguished from the Vororte . The Vorstädte were located outside the city walls, but within the Linienwall , a second ring of fortifications outside the city. The city walls were located in the place of the modern Ringstraße , while the Linienwall has been removed to give way for the Gürtel (both being rings of streets around the central city). The Vorstädte therefore correspond to

7992-513: The historical tradition as preserved in the Sumerian king-list confirms it. From Uruk the center of political gravity seems to have moved to Ur . The recorded chronology of rulers over Uruk includes both mythological and historic figures in five dynasties. As in the rest of Sumer, power moved progressively from the temple to the palace. Rulers from the Early Dynastic period exercised control over Uruk and at times over all of Sumer. In myth, kingship

8103-436: The invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, ring roads or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur. In

8214-884: The largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. Apart from these,

8325-461: The least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls with an interstitial "zone of fire", as the former Berlin Wall had, are now rare. In September 2014, Ukraine announced

8436-467: The like, tend to be referred to as ramparts or banks. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. Before that, the proto-city of Jericho in the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium   BC. The earliest known town wall in Europe

8547-480: The maritime trade on the ancient Euphrates River as well as the surrounding agricultural belt. The original city of Uruk was situated southwest of the ancient Euphrates River, now dry. Currently, the site of Warka is northeast of the modern Euphrates river. The change in position was caused by a shift in the Euphrates at some point in history, which, together with salination due to irrigation, may have contributed to

8658-607: The modern age, such as the walled towns of Austria , walls of Tallinn , or the town walls of York and Canterbury in England, as well as Nordlingen , Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. In Spain, Avila and Tossa del Mar hosts surviving medieval walls while Lugo has an intact Roman wall. The founding of urban centers was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in central and eastern Europe, were founded for this purpose during

8769-400: The most common type of container used during the Uruk period. They are believed to be vessels for serving rations of food or drink to dependent laborers. The introduction of the fast wheel for throwing pottery was developed during the later part of the Uruk period, and made the mass production of pottery simpler and more standardized. The Mask of Warka , also known as the 'Lady of Uruk' and

8880-405: The museum. The Sumerian King List (SKL) lists only 22 rulers among five dynasties of Uruk. The sixth dynasty was an Amorite dynasty not mentioned on the SKL . The following list should not be considered complete: "Then Kish was defeated and the kingship was taken to Eanna (Uruk)." "Meshkiangasher entered the sea and disappeared." "12 kings; they ruled for 2,310 years. Then Uruk

8991-507: The natives experienced great difficulty in uprooting European invaders. In China, Sun Yuanhua advocated for the construction of angled bastion forts in his Xifashenji so that their cannons could better support each other. The officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Their efforts to construct bastion forts, and their results, were limited. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped fend off

9102-669: The nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franconia region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict. Walls and fortified wall structures were still built in the modern era. They did not, however, have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. Modern examples of defensive walls include: Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in

9213-400: The period of Eastern settlement . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development. While gunpowder and cannons were invented in China, China never developed wall breaking artillery to the same extent as other parts of the world. Part of

9324-504: The reason is probably because Chinese walls were already highly resistant to artillery and discouraged increasing the size of cannons. In the mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China ... the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." Chinese walls were thick. The eastern wall of Ancient Linzi , established in 859 BC, had

9435-535: The size and number of cannon placements because the rooms could only be built so big. Notable surviving artillery towers include a seven layer defensive structure built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany , and a four layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony. The star fort, also known as the bastion fort, trace italienne , or renaissance fortress, was a style of fortification that became popular in Europe during

9546-433: The so-called "inner districts" of Vienna ( 2nd to 9th and 20th districts). This German history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Austrian history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Vienna location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . City wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect

9657-487: The south and Nippur in the north surrounded by much smaller 10 hectare settlements. Later, in the Late Uruk period, its sphere of influence extended over all Sumer and beyond to external colonies in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. In Uruk, in southern Mesopotamia, Sumerian civilization seems to have reached its creative peak. This is pointed out repeatedly in the references to this city in religious and, especially, in literary texts, including those of mythological content;

9768-556: The sovereignty of Ur . The Eanna District was restored as part of an ambitious building program, which included a new temple for Inanna. This temple included a ziggurat , the 'House of the Universe' (Cuneiform: E₂ . SAR.A ) to the northeast of the Uruk period Eanna ruins. Following the collapse of Ur ( c. 2000 BC), Uruk went into a steep decline until about 850 BC when the Neo-Assyrian Empire annexed it as

9879-452: The status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain such as rivers or coastlines may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering

9990-621: The time of Silla until the end of the Joseon dynasty . Throughout the period of the Joseon dynasty eupseongs were modified and renovated, and new eupseongs were built, but in 1910 Japan (the occupying power of Korea) issued an order for their demolition, resulting in most being destroyed. Studies of the ruins and reconstructions of the ancient city walls are currently being undertaken at some sites. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as

10101-606: The top of the walls occasionally had a roof. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries: The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Ávila , Provins ), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from having

10212-447: The wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. As

10323-569: The walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . According to Tonio Andrade , the immense thickness of Chinese city walls prevented larger cannons from being developed, since even industrial era artillery had trouble breaching Chinese walls. Eupseongs (Hangul: 읍성), 'city fortresses', which served both military and administrative functions, have been constructed since

10434-404: The walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Whereas European walls were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar, Chinese walls had tamped earthen cores which absorbed

10545-597: Was "almost impervious to the efforts of horizontal fire." In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached

10656-532: Was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river. The site lies 93 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of ancient Ur , 108 kilometers (67 miles) southeast of ancient Nippur , and 24 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of ancient Larsa . It is 30 km (19 mi) east of modern Samawah , Al-Muthannā , Iraq . Uruk

10767-499: Was built. A small aqueduct drains into the Great Courtyard, which may have irrigated a garden at one time. The impressive buildings of this period were built as Uruk reached its zenith and expanded to 600 hectares. All the buildings of Eanna IVa were destroyed sometime in Uruk III, for unclear reasons. The architecture of Eanna in period III was very different from what had preceded it. The complex of monumental temples

10878-423: Was defeated by Rīm-Sîn I of Larsa in his year 14 (c. 1740 BC), Rîm-Anum and Nabi-ilīšu. Uruk has some of the first monumental constructions in architectural history, and certainly the largest of its era. Much of Near Eastern architecture can trace its roots to these prototypical buildings. The structures of Uruk are cited by two different naming conventions, one in German from the initial expedition, and

10989-580: Was divided into five main districts: the Adad Temple, Royal Orchard, Ištar Gate, Lugalirra Temple, and Šamaš Gate districts. Uruk, known as Orcha ([Ὄρχα] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) ) to the Greeks, continued to thrive under the Seleucid Empire . During this period, Uruk was a city of 300 hectares and perhaps 40,000 inhabitants. In 200 BC,

11100-893: Was finally abandoned shortly before or after the Islamic conquest of 633–638. William Kennett Loftus visited the site of Uruk in 1849, identifying it as "Erech", known as "the second city of Nimrod ", and led the first excavations from 1850 to 1854. Uruk ( / ˈ ʊ r ʊ k / ) has several spellings in cuneiform ; in Sumerian it is 𒀕𒆠 unugᵏⁱ ; in Akkadian , 𒌷𒀕 or 𒌷𒀔 Uruk ( UNUG). Its names in other languages include: Arabic : وركاء or أوروك , Warkāʾ or Auruk ; Classical Syriac : ܐܘܿܪܘܿܟ , ʿÚrūk ; Biblical Hebrew : אֶרֶךְ ‎ ʾÉreḵ ; Ancient Greek : Ὀρχόη , romanized :  Orkhóē , Ὀρέχ Orékh , Ὠρύγεια Ōrúgeia . Though

11211-615: Was followed up with high-resolution satellite imagery in 2005. Work resumed in 2016 and is currently concentrated on the city wall area and a survey of the surrounding landscape. Part of the work has been to create a digital twin of the Uruk archaeological area. The current effort also involves geophysical surveying. The soil characteristics of the site make ground penetrating radar unsuitable so caesium magnetometers, combined with resistivity probes, are being used. About 400 Proto-cuneiform clay tablets were found at Uruk with Sumerian and pictorial inscriptions that are thought to be some of

11322-562: Was led by Jordan until 1931 when Jordan became Director of Antiquities in Baghdad, then by A. Nöldeke, Ernst Heinrich, and H. J. Lenzen. Among the finds was the Stell of the Lion Hunt, excavated in a Jemdat Nadr layer but sylistically dated to Uruk IV. The German excavations resumed after the war and were under the direction of Heinrich Lenzen from 1954 to 1967. He was followed in 1968 by J. Schmidt, and in 1978 by R.M. Boehmer. In total,

11433-688: Was located in the southern part of Mesopotamia, an ancient site of civilization, on the Euphrates river. Through the gradual and eventual domestication of native grains from the Zagros foothills and extensive irrigation techniques, the area supported a vast variety of edible vegetation. This domestication of grain and its proximity to rivers enabled Uruk's growth into the largest Sumerian settlement, in both population and area, with relative ease. Uruk's agricultural surplus and large population base facilitated processes such as trade, specialization of crafts and

11544-527: Was lowered from heaven to Eridu then passed successively through five cities until the deluge which ended the Uruk period. Afterwards, kingship passed to Kish at the beginning of the Early Dynastic period, which corresponds to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Sumer. In the Early Dynastic I period (2900–2800 BC), Uruk was in theory under the control of Kish. This period is sometimes called

11655-450: Was originally called 'Kullaba' (Kulab or Unug-Kulaba) prior to merging with the Eanna District. Kullaba dates to the Eridu period when it was one of the oldest and most important cities of Sumer. The Eanna District was composed of several buildings with spaces for workshops, and it was walled off from the city. By contrast, the Anu District was built on a terrace with a temple at the top. It

11766-528: Was quarried from an outcrop at Umayyad about 60 km east of Uruk. It is unclear if the entire temple or just the foundation was built of this limestone . The Limestone Temple is probably the first Inanna temple, but it is impossible to know with certainty. Like the Stone-Cone temple the Limestone temple was also covered in cone mosaics. Both of these temples were rectangles with their corners aligned to

11877-407: Was replaced with baths around the Great Courtyard and the labyrinthine Rammed-Earth Building. This period corresponds to Early Dynastic Sumer c. 2900 BC, a time of great social upheaval when the dominance of Uruk was eclipsed by competing city-states . The fortress -like architecture of this time is a reflection of that turmoil. The temple of Inanna continued functioning during this time in

11988-408: Was significantly larger and more complex. The Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. Ultimately, Uruk could not maintain long-distance control over colonies such as Tell Brak by military force. Geographic factors underpin Uruk's unprecedented growth. The city

12099-431: Was the greatest advantage enjoyed by the star fort. As a result, sieges lasted longer and became more difficult affairs. By the 1530s the bastion fort had become the dominant defensive structure in Italy. Outside Europe, the star fort became an "engine of European expansion," and acted as a force multiplier so that small European garrisons could hold out against numerically superior forces. Wherever star forts were erected

12210-618: Was the main defense for Gelgel . For cities that did not have city walls, the least it would have had was a stockaded citadel . This wooden walled area housed the royal citadel or aristocratic compounds such as in Surakarta and Aceh . Large rammed earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c.  1600 –1050   BC), as the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during

12321-438: Was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on

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