Le rempart de Thasos

By (author) Y. Grandjean

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Extent: 659 pages

Publisher: École française d’Athènes

Subjects: Classical Studies, Mediterranean Archaeology

Series: Études Thasiennes

Series volume number: 22

Language: French

Paperback (Published)

(December 2011)

ISBN: 9782869582286

Price: $150.00

Out of stock

This work on the city wall of Thasos presents the results of the studies which the Ecole Francaise d’Athenes began in 1911 and has pursued ever since at irregular intervals in the form of punctual test trenches or programmed excavations. The gathering of all evidence, published or not, accumulated during these diverse interventions and the description of the still visible remains allow the author to establish the present state of the wall and help the reader to better appreciate a monument that has for too long remained in the shadows, even though it bears comparison with the best known urban fortifications of the Greek world. More than a handful of literary or epigraphic texts concerning a city wall raised at the very beginning of the 5th c. B.C. and still maintained in the second half of the 2nd c. A.D., it is above all the information obtained on the ground that reveals the succession of different modifications brought to the gates and the curtains, as well as the series of improvements intended to reinforce progressively the wall following developments in the art of siege warfare. But beyond its defensive function, the Thasian city wall, owing to the length of its circuit, the variety and the quality of its masonry, the number and the aspect of its towers and the ornamentation of some of its gates, had a symbolic value, ostentatiously illustrating the power and the wealth of the city.

  • By (author) Y. Grandjean