Archaeological lnvestigations in Antioch on the· Orontes 1 Ancient and medieval fortification systems

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Hardly any of the nurnerous ancient and medieval written sources fails to mention Antioch's fortification systems. The imposing layout of the walls running over two mountain massifs (Mts. Silpios and Staurin) and along the Orontes River was considered as casually as the authors often report about them, a guarantee for the existence of the metropolis. In fact, far beyond the end of the ancient city the fortifications remained authoritative for Islamic, Byzantine and Crusader Antioch and continued to determine the organization of the urban space until modern times. The appearance of the city wall system is characterized not only by the usual degree of maintenance and restoration due to natural wear and tear as well as to military conflicts. The strong growth of the city throughout the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial period as well as numerous earthquakes that struck Antioch, especially in late antiquity, forced extensive rebuilding of the wall systems. Despite their importance for the reconstruction of the city’s eventful history, Antioch’s fortification systems, which have been preserved over a length of about 13 kilometres, have so far remained largely unnoticed. Even the American excavators of the 1930s showed little interest in the best­preserved monument in the city area. ln the first volume of the German-Turkish enterprise in Antioch, the ancient fortifications on the two city hills, Silpios and Staurin, as well as in the plain are presented monographically for the first time. This is accomplished on the basis of extensive building surveys carried out in five campaigns, a rich photographic documentation, and taking into account unpublished excavation reports photographs, and plans from the Princeton University Antioch Archive. The topographical framework for understanding the city wall systems is provided by the new city map another centerpiece of the German-Turkish enterprise, which is presented in the volume for the first time. The presentation of the results aims to revitalize research on a city whose history has to date essentially been narrated on the basis of written sources, while its archaeology remained largely unknown and fragmentary. The volume is intended as a contribution to the history of an ancient metropolis in a diachronic perspective (that is: beyond antiquity), with a specific focus on topography, urban development and architecture of one of the most significant and continuously occupied major city of the eastern Mediterranean.