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Image Gallery
Walls in the ancient world were built around cities or territories for defense but also served many other purposes, such as enclosing temples, surrounding palaces, enclosing tombs, providing people with homes, and encircling sports venues, among other purposes. These walls also frequently served as a kind of canvas for artists depicting kings and their gods.
The oldest walls extant are those of the temple of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey, dated to around 11,500 years ago. The first city walls surrounded Jericho in the 10th century BCE and walled cities became common throughout Mesopotamia by c. 4500 BCE. The earliest walls were made of sun-dried brick before they began to be constructed of stone in ancient Egypt. Stone would become the most common building material for walls in other regions as well, including the Indus Valley Civilization, China, Greece, and Rome.
The following gallery presents images of ancient walls from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica. Some, like the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, are ornamented while others, like the Great Wall of China, are not; but all are expressions of the cultures that raised them and believed they would stand the test of time.
Questions & Answers
What is the oldest wall in the world?
- The oldest walls in the world are those of the temple of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, dated to around 11,500 years ago.
What was the first walled city?
- The first walled city identified to date is Jericho, whose walls date to the 10th century BCE.
Which civilization was the first to use stone in building walls?
- Ancient Egypt was the first to use stone in building walls, though it is possible the Indus Valley Civilization was working in stone earlier.
What is the most famous wall in the world?
- The Great Wall of China is the most famous wall in the world.
License & Copyright
Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.
Original image by Beytullah eles. Uploaded by Joshua J. Mark, published on 26 April 2012. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
