The city of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, capital of

modern Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, has had different sets of

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect 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 to ...

from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

to the early 19th century. The city walls of Athens include: * the Mycenaean

Cyclopean Cyclopean masonry is a type of masonry, stonework found in Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal Engineering tolerance, clearance between adjacent stones and with clay ...

fortifications of the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

* the Pelasgic wall at the foot of the Acropolis * the so-called "Archaic Wall", whose existence and course are debated by scholars * the

Themistoclean Wall The Themistoclean Wall (), named after the Athenian statesman Themistocles, was built in Athens, Greece during the 5th century BC as a result of the Persian Wars and in the hopes of defending against further invasion. History The Persian Wars we ...

, built in 479 BC, the main city wall during Antiquity, restored and rebuilt several times (under

Conon Conon () (before 443 BC – ) was an Athenian general at the end of the Peloponnesian War, who led the Athenian naval forces when they were defeated by a Peloponnesian fleet in the crucial Battle of Aegospotami; later he contributed significantly ...

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

, Demetrios Poliorketes, etc.) * the

Long Walls Although long walls were built at several locations in ancient Greece, notably Corinth and Megara, the term ''Long Walls'' ( ) generally refers to the walls that connected classical Athens, Athens' main city to its ports at Piraeus and Phalerum, ...

, built in the 460s and 440s BC, connecting Athens with its ports at

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

and

Phaleron Phalerum or Phaleron ( ' ; ''()'', ) was a port of Ancient Athens, 5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens, on a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The bay is also referred to as "Bay of Phalerum" ( '').'' The area of Phalerum is now occupied by ...

* the ''Protocheisma'', a second wall built in front of the Themistoclean Wall in 338 BC as an extra defence against the Macedonians * the ''

Diateichisma The ''Diateichisma'' ({{langx, el, διατείχισμα, , cross wall) was an addition to the city walls of Athens constructed in the 280s BC. The ''Diateichisma'' was built after the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC). It was 900m long and built ...

'', built in the 280s BC as a second line of defence against Macedonian-held Piraeus * the Valerian Wall, built in , partly along the lines of older walls, partly as a new fortification, to protect the city against barbarian attacks * the Herulian (or Post-Herulian) Wall, a much smaller circuit built in , enclosing the centre of the ancient city following its

sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

by the

Heruli The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, known from records in the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danu ...

in 267 AD * the '' Rizokastro'', built in the 13th century around the AcropolisE. Makri, K. Tsakos, A. Vavilopoulou-Charitonidou, ''Rizokastro. The Preserved Remains: New Observations and Re-dating'', in Δελτίον τῆς Χριστιανικῆς Αρχαιολογικῆς Εταιρείας 14, 1989, p.362 * the

Wall of Haseki The so-called Wall of Haseki () was a city wall built around Athens by its Ottoman governor, Hadji Ali Haseki, in 1778. Initially intended to protect the city from attacks by Ottoman Muslim Albanian warbands, it became an instrument of Haseki's ...

, constructed in 1778 by the Ottoman governor of Athens,

Hadji Ali Haseki Hadji Ali Haseki (, ) was an 18th-century Ottoman Turks, Ottoman Turk and for twenty years (1775–1795) on-and-off ruler of Athens, where he is remembered for his cruel and tyrannical rule. Biography The career of Hadji Ali Haseki is known chief ...

Gates

Dipylon The Dipylon (, "Two-Gated") was the main gate in the Themistoclean Walls, city wall of Classical Athens. Located in the modern suburb of Kerameikos, it led to the namesake ancient cemetery, and to the roads connecting Athens with the rest of Greec ...

Sacred Gate The Sacred Gate (, ''Hiera Pyle'') was a gate in the city wall of Classical Athens, in the modern neighbourhood of Kerameikos. Its name derives from the Sacred Way that led from it to Eleusis, the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries The Eleusini ...

References

Sources

* * Maier, Franz Georg (1959-1961). ''Griechische Mauerbauinschriften'' reek building inscriptions of city walls 2 volumes. Vestigia, vol. 1/2. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer (on Athens especially volume 1, pp. 15-84). * * * * * * {{coord missing, Greece