The Geometric City Walls at Smyrna

Smyrna was protected by a thick and strong mud brick wall in the middle of the 9th century BC. This wall was constructed between 875-825 BC most probably around 850 BC. The wall whose breadth was approximately 4,75 m in the foot was the oldest Greek city wall in Anatolia.

The Archaic Fortification Wall at Smyrna

The most important defensive structure of a city is generally the city wall surrounding all its territory. The wall should be impenetrable. The city wall at Smyrna demonstrates the mastery of the craft of masonry. Smyrna’s city walls may be cited as the most beautiful and oldest city walls among the Aeolian and Ionian settlements in the Aegean region illustrating the state of masonry in the Archaic Period. The city of Smyrna was protected by a very solid wall since the 7th century BC. These fortification walls may be considered the oldest known example of polygonal masonry in the East Greek world. The early Archaic wall whose upper part was made of mud brick was constructed between 640-630 BC. In the light shed by recent excavations, the southern part of the wall is 75 m long and 3 m high in maximum. In the eastern slopes of the mound on the other hand, the wall’s length is 180m while its height is 4.40 m maximum. The breadth of the wall ranges between 13-15 meters. Two entrances in the early Archaic wall in the eastern and southeastern corners have been found. The upper mud brick part of the wall was destructed during the attacks of Alyattes, the Lydian king in 600 BC. The upper part then was rebuilt in the beginning of the 6th century in Lesbos type masonry.