Byzantine city walls, Nikaia / Iznik
The defensive city walls of Nikaia (Iznik, north west Anatolia, Turkey) have a long history. It started from the antique Roman period to deeply into the medieval Roman ("Byzantine", 13th century) period.
It incorporated a triumphal arch from the antique period. During the Roman Laskarid dynasty (1204-1261), when the capital Constantinople was occupied by the crusaders, the Laskarid emperors built a second defensive ringwall around it, to imitate the landwalls of Constantinople and to give the city prestige. It equally incorporated reused antique materials, and even statues, to build legitimacy upon the glorious antiquity.
Byzantine city walls, Nikaia / Iznik
The defensive city walls of Nikaia (Iznik, north west Anatolia, Turkey) have a long history. It started from the antique Roman period to deeply into the medieval Roman ("Byzantine", 13th century) period.
It incorporated a triumphal arch from the antique period. During the Roman Laskarid dynasty (1204-1261), when the capital Constantinople was occupied by the crusaders, the Laskarid emperors built a second defensive ringwall around it, to imitate the landwalls of Constantinople and to give the city prestige. It equally incorporated reused antique materials, and even statues, to build legitimacy upon the glorious antiquity.