- Anastasian Wall
The Anastasian Wall ( _tr. Anastasius Suru, _el. Αναστάσειο Τείχος) or the Long Walls of Thrace ("Uzun Duvar", "Μακρά Τείχη της Θράκης") is an ancient, stone and turf
fortification located 65 km west ofIstanbul ,Turkey built by the Byzantines during the late5th century . Originally some 56 km long, it stretches from Evcik İskelesi at theBlack Sea coast across the Thracianpeninsula to the coast of theSea of Marmara at 6 km west ofSilivri (ancient Selymbria). The wall was part of an additional outer defense system forConstantinople , capital of theEastern Roman Empire and probably continued in use until the7th century .The wall was named after the Emperor Anastasius I (ruled
491 –518 ). However, there is evidence that the fortification already existed in469 during the reign of Leo I (457 -474 ) and in478 in the era of Zeno (476 –491 ), and it was maintained and renewed by Anastasius in the time from507 to512 . The wall had a thickness of 3.30 m and a height over 5 m. It was built complete with towers, gates, forts, ditches and a military way to protect Constantinople from invasions from the west byHuns ,Slavs andBulgars . A rectangularcastrum with dimensions of 250 by 300 m existed also in the central section of the wall.It is known that the wall had only a limited effectiveness, and the
barbarian s penetrated it many times, because the fortification's length made it difficult to defend the wall completely by a limitedgarrison , and also because the wall was not sufficient strong due to its construction in hurry.The wall fell into ruin after it was abandoned in the 7th century because of the difficulty of keeping it manned and repaired. Over the centuries, the stone of more than half of the total length was reused in other local buildings. It is best preserved in the woodlands of the northern sector. The Anastasian Wall is an almost unknown example of monumental linear fortification dating from antiquity in continental
Europe , next only toHadrian's Wall (122 AD ) inEngland in its complexity.ee also
*
Walls of Constantinople
*List of walls Bibliography
* Schuchhardt, C. "Die Anastasius-Mauer bei Constantinopel und die Dobrudcha-Wälle", Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Arhäologischen Instituts, XVI (1901), 107-127
* Crow, J. G. "The Long Walls of Thrace", in C. Mango and G. Dagron, "Constantinople and Its Hinterland", (Aldershot, 1995)
* Crow, J. & Ricci, A. "Investigating the hinterland of Constantinople: interim report on the Anastasian Long Wall". Journal of Roman Archaeology 10 (1997), 253-288External links
* [http://longwalls.ncl.ac.uk/AnastasianWall.htm Anastasian Wall research project of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK ]
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