City Walls in the Written Record and the Visual Arts

Abstract

This chapter examines the textual evidence pertaining to the establishment of the Archaic city walls. These include written sources and terminology relevant to that time period as well as attestations of the fortification of poleis through archaeological evidence and illustrations of walls on ancient Greek pottery. The chapter begins with an explanation of the two meanings of the word teichos, city wall and fort. It then discusses other terms that imply fortification and presents evidence of attestations regarding groups of walled poleis and Homeric city walls.