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THREE Fortification FIELD WALLS Greek plans of defense in the classical period seldom incorporated either stockades built directly around cultivated fields or extensive frontier walls designed to stop invading armies from reaching the croplands of the interiors.1 Although it is true that in a few early instances walls were constructed at key border passes to prevent entry into friendly territory ,2 the usual practice was to gather the country's population, valuables , and movable property into places of refuge (see chapter 4, "Evacuation "), and consequently either to prevent the enemy from ravaging the fields by pitched hoplite battle or to submit to terms and thereby save one's agricultural produce. The alternative was to stay fast inside I. This is in contrast to some of the early walled systems of Egypt and the East. See Harmand 1973, 178. 2. The Phokian Wall at the pass of Thermopylai (Hdt. 7.176.4-5) and the fortifications at the Isthmus of Corinth during the Persian Wars and later (cf. Diod. 15.68,4; Hdt. 8,4°.2, 8,71, 9.7; Lys. 2.44-45; Pause 7.6.7) are two examples . There was also an earlier Mycenean wall on the Isthmus. See O. Broneer, "The Cyclopean Wall on the Isthmus of Corinth and Its Bearing on Late Bronze Age Chronology," Hesperia 35 (1966): 346-362. 79 80 / Defense ofAgriculture the walls of the city and watch ravagers attack farmland-outside of Athens not a palatable choice among most Greek city-states. If the open space within a city's walls that may have been used for small gardening during wartime is not considered real farmland,3 the first (and only?) fifth-century reference to a true agricultural wall is not found in mainland Greece, but across the neck of the Thracian Chersonesos . There Miltiades originally built a wall across the peninsula to halt the incursions of the Apsinthians, who habitually ravaged the rich farmlands (Hdt. 6.36-37). Later, Pericles rebuilt the wall, and so protected the Greek homesteaders there against Thracian marauders (Plut. Per. 19.1-2). When Derkylidas arrived in 398 B.C. he complied with the requests of the inhabitants and once more reconstructed the wall to keep out the Thracians. By doing so "he brought inside the circuit ofthe wall eleven towns, many harbors, plentiful farmland ideal for both grain and fruit, and large tracts of excellent grazing land for all varieties of stock animals" (Xen. Hell. 3.2.10-11).4 3. There are numerous examples ofopen lands included within a city's walled circuit that were perhaps used for cultivation; see Kirsten 1952, 1002 (Athens); Martin 1973, 110 (Stratos). Thucydides speaks of ta erema tes poleos, which the refugees from Attica quickly filled during the war. Andocides (£rag. 3.I [Loeb]) laments that during the evacuation of Attica into the city the inhabitants were forced to eat wild greens, which suggests that some herbs in or near the walls could be eaten. A lengthy, rambling wall, closely following the terrain, which scholars refer to as a Geliindmauer, fitted only loosely around a city and consequently offered substantial areas of open space (cf. Winter 1971, 110-114). Cities such as Messene and Megalopolis-the practice became especially popular in the fourth century B.c.-stood amid valuable cropland and were surrounded by large circuits, and hence, as Martin (1956, 192) points out, "une zone de cultures et de pasturages etait ainsi protegee." The Geliindmauer, however , was not intended primarily to protect agriculture. See also Pluto Phil. 13.I for grain cultivated inside Megalopolis during a siege; in the summer of 1997 the entire site of the ancient city was under wheat, which nearly masked the ruined circuit of the walls. 4. Such a long field wall (in this case seven kilometers) required a welldisciplined and carefully deployed group oftroops; the difficulty ofits defense is Fortification / 81 It is recognized that beginning sometime in the fourth century B.C. ongoing changes in military practice in general began to accelerate, lessening dependence on pitched hoplite battles. With improvements in both fortification and siegecraft, the development of artillery, specialization in troops, and the introduction of mercenary armies, more emphasis was given to passive defense strategy.5 The exhaustive, offensive wars of the prior century no doubt also contributed to this turnabout in thinking.6 In the case ofAthens, the abandonment of the country under Pericles and his followers had proven unwise to many. Conservatives felt that a rejection...

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