City Walls in Late Antiquity

The construction of urban defences was one of the hallmarks of the late Roman and late-antique periods (AD 300600) throughout the western and eastern empire. To date, research on city walls in the two halves of the empire has highlighted chronological and regional variations, enabling scholars to rethink how and why urban circuits were built and functioned in Late Antiquity. Although these developments have made a significant contribution to the understanding of late-antique city walls, studies are often concerned with a single monument/small group of monuments or a particular region, and the issues raised do not usually lead to a broader perspective, creating an artificial divide between east and west. It is this broader understanding that the proposed publication seeks to provide. The book and its contributions arise from a successful conference held at the British School at Rome and the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome on June 20-21, 2018. The event was supported by the Institute for Classical Studies and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies,. The proposed structure is based around important themes that emerged at the conference and will highlight important aspects of late-antique city walls, while grouping together papers that show the similarities and differences that existed in the late-antique world. The proposed monograph would be a timely addition to the most recent scholarship on city walls. Recent publications on urban fortifications address important topics, such as the origins of fortifications, building techniques, function and semantics: however, they provide a very limited treatment of Late Antiquity. Another unique feature of the proposed monograph is that unlike these previous volumes, it will combine studies of city walls from the eastern and western provinces and the post-antique life of these walls, therefore addressing the current gap in such studies. The volume, which will contain articles from world-leading experts in late-antique history and archaeology, aims to establish itself as a reference for future discussions on the topic. The readership for the proposed volume will include both academics and students interested in issues of construction, spolia-use, late-antique architecture, culture and urbanism, empire-wide changes in Late Antiquity, and the perception of this practice by local inhabitants. The proposed monograph will therefore provide the first comprehensive study of late Roman and late antique city walls with an emphasis on both regional and empire-wide trends.
About the Author: Lucinda Gosling studied history at the University of Liverpool and has worked in the picture library for 23 years, most recently at historical specialist, Mary Evans Picture Library. She is a writer and public speaker, contributing to various publications including History Today, Tatler and Majesty and is author of over ten books on a wide variety of subjects from historic London to Great War knitting.