The Hexamilion wall is a defensive wall constructed across the Isthmus of Corinth

Isthmus of Corinth

The Isthmus of Corinth is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word "isthmus" comes from the Ancient Greek word for "neck" and refers to the narrowness of the land. The Isthmus was known in the ancient...

 guarding the only land route into the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

 peninsula from mainland Greece.

Early fortifications

The Hexamilion stands at the end of a long series of attempts to fortify the Isthmus stretching back to perhaps the Mycenean period. Many of the Peloponessos cities wanted to pull back and fortify the Isthmus instead of making a stand at Thermopylae

Thermopylae

Thermopylae is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs. "Hot gates" is also "the place of hot springs and cavernous entrances to Hades"....

 when Xerxes invaded in 480 BC (Herodotos

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

 Histories

Histories (Herodotus)

The Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...

 7.206). The issue arose again before the Battle of Salamis

Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BCE, in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens...

 (Herodotos 8.40, 49, 56). Although the concept of a fortress Peloponnese was repeatedly appealing, fortification of the Isthmus was of no utility without control of the ocean, as Herodotos notes (7.138).

The Hexamilion and its history

The wall was constructed in the period between 408 CE and 450 CE, in the reign of Theodosius II

Theodosius II

Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...

 a during the time of the great Barbarian invasions into the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. The attack of Alaric

Alaric I

Alaric I was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410. Alaric is most famous for his sack of Rome in 410, which marked a decisive event in the decline of the Roman Empire....

 on Greece in 396 CE or the sack of Rome in 410 CE by the Visigoths may have motivated the construction, which included towers, sea bastions, and at minimum one fortress. The one known fortress contained two gates (north and south), of which the northern gate functioned as the formal entrance to the Peloponessos. The wall was constructed with a rubble and mortar core faced with squared stones. It is not certain how long it took to complete, but the importance given to the task is apparent from the scale of the construction; the Hexamilion is the largest archaeological structure in Greece. Every structure in the region was cannibalized for stone for the effort, either being incorporated into the wall directly, as was the temple of Poseidon at Isthmia

Temple of Isthmia

The Temple of Isthmia is an ancient Greek temple on the Isthmus of Corinth dedicated to the god Poseidon and built in the Archaic Period. It is about east of ancient Corinth. It appears to have been constructed in the seventh century BC though was later destroyed in 470 BC and rebuilt as the...

, or being burned into lime

Calcium oxide

Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....

, as was the sanctuary of Hera at Perachora

Heraion of Perachora

The Heraion of Perachora was a sanctuary of the goddess Hera situated in a small cove of the Corinthian gulf at the end of the Perachora peninsula. In addition to a temple of Hera of unusual construction and antiquity, the remains of a number of other structures have also been found, including a...

 as well as much of the ancient statuary of Corinth. In the reign of Justinian, the wall was fortified with additional towers, reaching a total number of 153. Military use appears to have fallen off after the 7th century CE, and by the 11th CE domestic structures were being built into the wall. In 1415, the Byzantine emperor Manuel II

Manuel II Palaiologos

Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine Emperor from 1391 to 1425.-Life:...

 personally supervised repairs over a period of forty days. The high cost of this effort caused unrest among the local elite. The wall was breached in 1423 and again in 1431 by the Ottomans

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 under the command of Turahan Bey

Turahan Bey

Turahan Bey or Turakhan Beg was a prominent Ottoman military commander and Ottoman governor of Thessaly from 1423 until his death in 1456. He participated in many Ottoman campaigns of the second quarter of the 15th century, fighting against the Byzantines as well as against the Crusade of Varna...

. Despot

Despotate of Morea

The Despotate of the Morea or Despotate of Mystras was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its 100 years of existence but eventually grew to take in almost all the southern Greek peninsula, the...

 Constantine Palaiologos

Constantine XI

Constantine XI Palaiologos, latinized as Palaeologus , Kōnstantinos XI Dragasēs Palaiologos; February 8, 1404 – May 29, 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor from 1449 to his death as member of the Palaiologos dynasty...

 restored the wall again in 1444, but the Turks breached it again in 1446 and in October 1452. After the Ottoman conquest of the Peloponnese in 1460, the wall was abandoned. During its history, the wall never succeeded in fulfilling the function for which it was constructed, unless it acted as a deterrent. Elements of the wall are preserved south of the Corinth Canal

Corinth Canal

The Corinth Canal is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The builders dug the canal through...

 and at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia.

Secondary sources on the Hexamilion

• Barker, J. W. (New Brunswick, NJ 1969). Manuel II Paleologus (1391-1425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship.
• Clement, P. A. (Thessaloniki 1977) “The Date of the Hexamilion” in Essays in Memory of Basil Laourdas.
• Fowden, G. (JRA 8 (1995), p. 549-567). “Late Roman Achaea: Identity and Defense.”
• Gregory, T. E. (Princeton, NJ 1993). The Hexamilion and the Fortress. (Isthmia vol. 5).
• Hohlfelder, R. (GRBS 18 (1977), p. 173-179). “Trans-Isthmian Walls in the Age of Justinian.”
• Jenkins, R. J. H. and H. Megaw. (BSA 32 (1931/1932) p. 68-89). “Researches at Isthmia.”
• Johnson, S. (London 1983). Late Roman Fortifications.
• Lawrence, A. W. (BSA 78 (1983), p. 171-233). “A Skeletal History of Byzantine Fortification.”
• Leake, W. M. (London 1830). Travels in the Morea.
• Monceaux, P. (Gazette archéologique (1884), p. 273-285, 354-363). “Fouilles et recherches archéologiques au sanctuaire des Jeux Isthmiques.”
• Monceaux, P. (Gazette archéologique (1885), p. 205-214). “Fouilles et recherches archéologiques au sanctuaire des Jeux Isthmiques.”
• Pringle, D. (Oxford 1981). The Defense of Byzantine Africa from Justinian to the Arab Conquest. (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 99).
• Stroud, R. (Hesperia 40 (1971), p. 127-145). “An Ancient Fort on Mount Oneion.”
• Winter, F. E. (London 1971). Greek Fortifications.
• Wiseman, J. R. (Hesperia 32 (1963), p. 248-275). “A Trans-Isthmian Fortification Wall.”

Secondary sources on transisthmian fortifications

• Bodnar, E. W. (AJA 64 (1960), p. 165-172). “The Isthmian Fortifications in Oracular Prophecy.”
• Broneer, O. (Hesperia 35 (1966), p. 346-362). “The Cyclopean Wall on the Isthmus of Corinth and Its Bearing on Late Bronze Age Chronology.”
• Broneer, O. (Hesperia 37 (1968), p. 25-35). “The Cyclopean Wall on the Isthmus of Corinth, Addendum.”
• Caraher, W. R. and T. E. Gregory. (Hesperia 75.3 (2006), p. 327-356). “Fortifications of Mount Oneion, Corinthia.”
• Chrysoula, P. K. (AAA 4 (1971), p. 85-89). “The Isthmian Wall.”
• Dodwell, E.
  Edward Dodwell
  Edward Dodwell was an Irish painter, traveller and a writer on archaeology.Dodwell was born in Ireland and belonged to the same family as Henry Dodwell, the theologian, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge....
  
  (London 1819). A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece II
• Fimmen, E. (RE IX (1916), cols. 2256-2265). “Isthmos.”
• Hope-Simpson, R. (London 1965). Gazetteer and Atlas of Mycenaean Sites.
• Jansen, A. g. (Lewiston, NY 2002). A Study of the Remains of Mycenaean Roads and Stations of Bronze-Age Greece.
• Lawrence, A. W. (Oxford 1979). Greek Aims in Fortification.
• Vermeule, E. T. (Chicago 1972). Greece in the Bronze Age.
• Wheler, G. (London 1682). A Journey into Greece.
• Wiseman, J. R. (Göteborg 1978). The Land of the Ancient Corinthians. (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 50).
• Wiseman, J. R. (diss. University of Chicago 1966). Corinthian Trans-Isthmian Walls and the Defense of the Peloponnesos.

Primary sources

• Zosimus, Historia nova 1.29 (253-260 CE), 5.6 (396 CE).
• Procopius, De aedificiis 4.2.27-28 (548-560 CE).
• IG IV.204 (548-560 BCE).
• G. Sphrantzes, Chronicon minus (p. 4, Grecu) (1415 CE), (p. 16, Grecu) (1423 CE), (p. 50, Grecu) (1431 CE), (p. 52, Grecu) (1435 CE), (p. 66, Grecu) (1444 CE), (p. 128, ed. Grecu) (1462).
• Laonikos Chalkokondyles (p. 183-184, ed. Bonn) (1415 CE), (p. 319-320, ed. Bonn) (1443 CE), (p. 70, Grecu) (1446), (p. 345-346, ed. Bonn) (1446 CE), (p. 443, ed. Bonn) (1458).
• Short Chronicle 35 (p. 286, Schreiner, I) (1415 CE), 33 (p. 252, Schreiner, I) (1446 CE).
• Manuel II, The Letters of Manuel Palaeologus (p. 68, Dennis) (1415-1416 CE).
• Mazaris, Descent into Hades (p. 80-82, Buffalo (1415 CE).
• Cyriacus of Ancona, Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens (p. 168, Bodnar) (1436 CE).
• Pythian Oracle (p. 166-167, Bodnar) (1431-1446 CE).
• Pseudo-Phrantzes, Chronicum maius (p. 235, ed. Bonn) (1452 CE).
• Plutarch, Lives Agis and Cleomenes 20.1-21.4 (223 BCE), Aratus 43.1-44.4 (223 BCE).
• Polybius 2.52.1-53.6 (223 BCE).
• Diodorus Siculus 15.68.1-5 (369/368 BCE), 19.53.1-53.4 (316 BCE), 19.63.1-64.4 (315 BCE).
• Xenophon, Hellenica 6.5.49-52 (370 BCE), 7.1.15-22 (369 BCE).
• Herodotus 7.138-139 (480 BCE), 8.71-72 (480 BCE), 9.7-8 (480 BCE).

External links

• Excavations on the Hexamilion, by the Ohio State University