Described by Newcastle University researchers as “the most monumental linear fortification dating from antiquity in continental Europe, comparable only with Hadrian’s Wall in its complexity and preservation”, the Anastasian Long Wall is a surprisingly little known monument even though it once stretched for 56km from Silivri on the Sea of Marmara to Karacaköy on the Black Sea.
Although Constantinople was surrounded by strong walls, the emperors decided that it would be wise to build another fortification some 65km west of the city to help keep out marauding Bulgars. The majority of the wall was constructed during the course of the seventh century although work had already begun in the reign of the Emperor Anastasius (491-515), hence its name.
Much of it had to be rebuilt by the Emperor Justinian following an earthquake in 557. In 626 Avar invaders broke through the wall and by about 700 attempts to keep it manned seem to have come to an end.
Today some 20km of the wall survive in reasonable shape, mainly in the woodlands engulfing the middle and northern sections. Although it was thoroughly documented by Newcastle University in the 2000s, as yet nothing has been done to protect the walls or outlying forts.
