The city walls are a historical protective structure of the city .
They consist of stones or clay and have a height of at least a person, often significantly higher. They partially or completely surrounded the city, sometimes including natural barriers like rocks or rivers. It was possible to get into the city only through the gate . In the Middle Ages, the erection of the city walls was a privilege that was not given automatically with city law . City walls have become a symbol of cities.
In order to keep the population of cities in obedience, and to facilitate the localization of the uprising, the city was divided by transverse walls into several parts, for example, the city of Damascus . The well-to-do part of the population often occupied the city’s quarters, which were also separated from the poorest part of the city by walls, as was the case, for example, in the city of Carthage .
See also
- City gate
- Fortress wall
Literature
- Tsabel S. A. Fortification // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Walther Gerlach: Die Entstehungszeit der Stadtbefestigungen in Deutschland. Ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen Verfassungsgeschichte . (= Leipziger Historische Abhandlungen; H. 34). Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1913
- Paul Lohf: Türme und Tore von Flandern bis zum Baltikum . Westphal, Wolfshagen-Scharbeutz 1943
- Monika Porsche: Stadtmauer und Stadtentstehung. Untersuchungen zur frühen Stadtbefestigung im mittelalterlichen Deutschen Reich . Folio-Verlag Wesselkamp, Hertingen 2000, ISBN 3-930327-07-4 (zugleich Dissertation, Universität Freiburg i. Br. 1998)