The city of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, capital of

modern Greece The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — Britain, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine Empire had ...

, 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 with towers, bastions and gates ...

from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

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

Cyclopean Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

fortifications of the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

* the

Pelasgic wall The Pelasgic wall or Pelasgian fortress or ''Enneapylon'' (Greek: Εννεαπύλον; nine-gated) was a monument supposed to have been built by the Pelasgians, after levelling the summit of the rock on the Acropolis of Athens. Thucydides and Arist ...

at the foot of the Acropolis * the so-called "Archaic Wall", whose existence and course are debated by scholarsFor arguments for and against, cf. and respectively * the

Themistoclean Wall The Themistoclean Wall ( el, Θεμιστόκλειον τείχος), 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 fur ...

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

Conon Conon ( el, Κόνων) (before 443 BC – c. 389 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 c ...

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

Demetrios Poliorketes Demetrius I (; grc, Δημήτριος; 337–283 BC), also called Poliorcetes (; el, Πολιορκητής, "The Besieger"), was a Macedonian nobleman, military leader, and king of Macedon (294–288 BC). He belonged to the Antigonid dynast ...

, etc.) * the

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

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

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) 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 ...

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" ( el, Όρμος Φαλήρου '').'' The ...

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

Diateichisma {{unreferenced, date=June 2019 The ''Diateichisma'' ( gr, διατείχισμα, 3=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 wa ...

'', 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 Wall, a much smaller circuit built in , enclosing the centre of the ancient city following its sack by the

Heruli The Heruli (or Herules) were an early Germanic people. Possibly originating in Scandinavia, the Heruli are first mentioned by Roman authors as one of several "Scythian" groups raiding Roman provinces in the Balkans and the Aegean Sea, attacking b ...

in 267 AD * the '' Rizokastro'', built in the 11th/12th century around the Acropolis * the

Wall of Haseki The so-called Wall of Haseki ( el, Τείχος του Χασεκή, Teichos tou 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 ...

, constructed in 1778 by the Ottoman governor of Athens,

Hadji Ali Haseki Hadji Ali Haseki ( tr, Hacı Ali Haseki, el, Χατζή Αλής Χασεκής) was an 18th-century 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 ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{coord missing, Greece