Interesting challenge to the standard dating of Tarragona's famous Roman walls. The video notes that academics date the mixed-style wall to the 3rd century BC and credit it to the Romans, but argues the Romans simply reused an older, already damaged wall of massive 'Phoenician-style' blocks. Its cyclopean base reaches roughly 5 metres of piled boulders, with heights varying from one stone to five or six courses, plus gates on huge lintels. Notably, no cyclopean walls are known at Carthage itself. Comparable boulder walls do appear at Cefalu, Phoenice and Arwad. 🤔🏛️
Video argues Tarragona's cyclopean boulder base predates the Roman wall
SpainArchitecture
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Key facts
- Ancient Tarraco (modern Tarragona, Spain) became the seat of a Roman provincial capital and a military base during the Punic Wars.
- The Roman wall exceeds 10 metres in height, with additional height contributed by massive cyclopean blocks beneath the Roman work.
- The cyclopean base uses massive boulders piled in places to heights of about 5 metres, with numerous gates carried on huge lintels.
- Academic sources date the mixed-style wall to the third century BC and attribute it to the Romans; the video disputes this single-campaign attribution.
- The video argues the Romans reused an older, already damaged wall of massive blocks of a so-called 'Phoenician style'.
- No cyclopean walls of any type are known at Carthage, which the video uses to question the Phoenician attribution.
- The video notes the boulders reach unequal heights (one stone tall in places, five or six courses in others), arguing they were not laid as a uniform Roman foundation.
- Comparable massive-boulder 'Phoenician style' cyclopean walls are cited at Cefalu (Sicily), Phoenice (Albania) and Arwad (Syria).
Sources
Tarragona's Roman walls: the border between two worldstimeports.eu
Built using cyclopean blocks without mortar, they form part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco declared World Heritage by UNESCO in the ...
The oldest wall in Spainfascinatingspain.com
This incredible construction surrounds Tarragona's old town centre and dates back to the Roman era, when the city was known as Tarraco and was ...
Cyclopean walls. Tarragona. Catalonia. Spain Stock Photoalamy.com
Roman Art. Cyclopean walls (sixth or fisth century B.C). Is built of huge irregurarly shaped blocks. Tarragona city. Catalonia. Spain. Europe. Show ...
Wall of Tarragonaen.wikipedia.org
The Wall of Tarragona is a wall located in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1884. [citation needed] ...
Muralles Romanes de Tarragona (Roman Walls of ...gpsmycity.com
Between 217 and 197 BC, the first stone wall was erected, featuring Cyclopean locks reinforced with towers at vulnerable points. Towers such as the ...
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