World Famous Walls

Walls of Babylon

The Walls of Babylon, the city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, was one of the original wonders mentioned by Antipater of Sidon. His poem begins: “I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race”. Another ancient version of the Seven Wonders included the Ishtar Gate. Constructed around 575 BC it was part of the famous Walls of Babylon.

Both the gate and walls were constructed of blue glazed tiles with alternating rows of bas-relief dragons and aurochs. In 1983, Saddam Hussein started both a restoration and new constructions on top of the old ruins. If visiting Iraq sounds to risky: The Pergamon Museum in Berlin contains a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and walls partly made out of material excavated at Babylon.

Sacsayhuaman

Sacsayhuamán is an Inca walled complex high above the city of Cusco in Peru. The imperial city Cusco, was laid out in the form of a puma, the animal that symbolized the Inca dynasty. The belly of the puma was the main plaza, the river Tullumayo formed its spine, and the hill of Sacsayhuamán its head. There are three parallel walls built in different levels with lime stones of enormous sizes. It is suggested that the zigzagging walls represent the teeth of the puma’s head.

The boulders used for the first or lower levels are the biggest. The largest is 8.5 meter high (28 ft) and weights about 140 metric tons. The wall is built in such a way that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive the devastating earthquakes in Cuzco.

Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall was built by the Romans to protect their colony Britannia from the tribes in Scotland. It stretches for 117 kilometers (73 miles) across the north of England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Construction started in 122 AD following a visit by Roman Emperor Hadrian, and was largely completed within six years.

The wall was garrisoned by around 9,000 soldiers, including infantry and cavalry. Although only stretches of this famous wall are still visible today it it is among the most popular tourist attractions in England. There is a national path that follows the whole length of the wall from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway.

Walls of Troy

Troy is a legendary city in what is now northwestern Turkey, made famous in Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. According to Iliad, this is where the Trojan War took place. The archaeological site of Troy contains several layers of ruins.

The layer Troy VIIa was probably the Troy of Homer and has been dated to the mid- to late-13th century BC. Portions of the famous walls of Troy are still visible. Today, a large number of tourists visit Troy each year. The visitor sees a highly commercialized site, with a large wooden horse built as a playground for children, then shops and a museum.