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Warmatrix

War Matrix - Walled town

Prehistory 35000 BCE - 3500 BCE, Weapons and technology

Menteriggioni
Menteriggioni
Towns, with all their wealth, are tempting targets for raiding parties and conquering armies. They can be strengthened by encircling them with walls. Simple walls can be made from earth ramparts or wooden palisades, but larger towns use mud bricks or stone. Towns often added to their defense by making their interior into a maze of narrow streets, so that an attacker who managed to breach the walls was far from safe.
Walling towns is an old practice. The oldest known one is ancient Jerico form 9400 BCE, which had walls over 3.6 meters high and half as wide at the base. Another famous example is ancient Constantinople, whose Theodosian walls were 12 meters high and 4.5 - 6 meters thick, studded with towers and protected by a second lower outer wall. They were defeated only twice, the first time by the infamous Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE and the second time by Turkish bombards in 1453 CE.