The essays presented in this volume, first published in 2000, describe a phenomenon so widespread in human time and space that its importance is easily overlooked. City walls shaped the history of warfare; the mobilisation of manpower and resources needed to build them favoured some kinds of polities over others; and their massive strength, appropriately ornamented, created a visual language of authority. Previous collective volumes on the subject have dealt mainly with Europe, but the historians and art historians who collaborate here follow a comparative agenda. The millennial practice of wall building that branched out from the ancient Near East into India, Europe, and North Africa shows continuities and points of contact of which the makers of urban fortifications were scarcely aware; separate traditions in China, sub-Saharan Africa, and North America illustrate universal themes of defensive strategy and the symbolism of power, each time embedded in a distinctive local context.

This book explores how wall-building traditions throughout the world illustrate universal themes of defensive strategy and the symbolism of power.
Reviews
Review of the hardback: '... well worth a close look ...' Sixteenth Century Journal
Review of the hardback: ' ... well presented and illustrated ... City Walls succeeds in presenting a wide and informative range of analyses with much new material to many readers, not just medievalists'. Medieval Archaeology XLVI
Review of the hardback: 'All contributions assembled in this volume are valuable contributions to scholarship ... excellent and very thorough pieces of original research.' Brill



Book Information
ISBN 9780521124157
Author James D. Tracy
Format Paperback
Page Count 720
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 1040g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 40mm