09-21-2010, 06:42 PM
Just coming back from Alésia, I am still impressed by the utter scale of the Roman circumvallation. Standing on top of the Mount Auxois and looking across the deep valley to the opposite mountain ridges far away where the Roman lines run, I got a true feeling of this monumental battle and the Roman knack for large scale organization and engineering.
Back at home, the books say the circumvallation was like 16 km and the contravallation 21 km long. This would be significantly longer than the longest city walls of antiquity (and perhaps all history), those of Classical Athens which ran something like 31 km. Obviously, it is apples and oranges, since most of the Roman lines consisted 'merely' of ditches, wooden palisades and earth ramparts, but still.
Do you happen to know of even longer circumvallations?
Back at home, the books say the circumvallation was like 16 km and the contravallation 21 km long. This would be significantly longer than the longest city walls of antiquity (and perhaps all history), those of Classical Athens which ran something like 31 km. Obviously, it is apples and oranges, since most of the Roman lines consisted 'merely' of ditches, wooden palisades and earth ramparts, but still.
Do you happen to know of even longer circumvallations?
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
