Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East

With a collection of 57 articles in English, French and German, presenting the most recent research on ancient fortifications, this book is the most substantial publication ever to have issued on the topic for many years. While fortifications of the ancient cultures of the middle east and ancient Greek and Roman worlds were noticed by travelers and scholars from the very beginning of research on antiquity from the late 18th century onwards, the architectural, economic, logistical, political, urban and other social aspects of fortifications have been somewhat overlooked and underestimated by scholarship in the 20th century. The book presents the research of a new generation of scholars who have been analyzing those aspects of fortifications, many of them with years of experience in fieldwork on city walls. Much new evidence and a fresh look at this important category of built structure is now made available, and the publication will be of interest not only to the field of ancient architecture, but also to other sub-disciplines of archaeology and ancient history.

The papers were presented at a conference in Athens in December 2012, and they all present material and discuss topics under seven headings that represent the most central themes in the study of fortification in antiquity: the origins of fortification, physical surroundings and building technique, function and semantics, historical context, the fortification of regions and regionally confined phenomena, the fortifications of Athens and new field research.
The book is Volume 2 in the new series Fokus Fortifikation Studies, created by the German based international research network Fokus Fortifikation. The topics included have been identified by the network over many previous conferences and workshops as being the most important and as needing research and discussion beyond the network members. Volume 1 in the series, Ancient Fortifications: a compendium of theory and practice (Oxbow Books) appeared in 2015 and together the two volumes bring the field of fortification studies up-to-date and will be an essential resource for many years to come.

Table of Contents

Rune Frederiksen, Silke Müth, Peter Schneider and Mike Schnelle
Preface
Introduction
Pierre Leriche
What Does Studying Ancient Fortifications Mean?

Origins of Fortifications
Rune Frederiksen and Mike Schnelle
Introduction
Pascal Butterlin and Sébastien Rey
Mari and the Development of Complex Defensive Systems in Mesopotamia at the Dawn of History
Sébastien Rey
Mesopotamian Poliorcetics Before Assyria: Genesis of the Art of Fortification and Siege Warfare
Nathan Morello
Building the Frontier: Frontier Fortifications in the Assyrian Empire
Tomas Alusik
Fortifications of prehistoric Crete: the current state of research
Stefanie Hubert
Late MH and Early LH Fortifications: Some Considerations on the Role of Burials and Grave Monuments at City Gates
Gabriele Cifani
The Fortifications of Archaic Rome: Social and Political Significance
Baptiste Vergnaud
Fortifications of Central Anatolia in the Early First Millennium BC
Mike Schnelle
Origins of Sabaean fortifications of the early 1st millennium BC – some suggestions to the examples of the cities Mārib and Ṣirwāḥ (Yemen)

Physical Surroundings and Technique: The Building Experience
Peter de Staebler
Physical Surroundings, Technique, and Building Experience: The State of Research in the Network Fokus Fortifikation
Jean-Claude Bessac
Techniques et économie de la construction des fortifications en pierre: méthodes et perspectives
Tobias B. H. Helms and Jan-Waalke Meyer
Fortifying a major early Bronze Age centre: The construction and maintenance of Tell Chuera’s (northern Syria) outer defence works
Turgut Saner, Kaan Sağ and Ertunç Denktaş
The Fortifications of Larisa (Buruncuk) Reconsidered
Ayşe Dalyancı-Berns and Agnes Henning
The Acropolis Wall on Monte Croccia (South Italy). Building a Lucanian Fortification: the Economical and Representative Utilization of the Landscap