Ronnie Hirsch, Brown University

“An Empire of Brick and Mortar: The Walls of Athens as a Symbol of Imperialism in the fifth and fourth Centuries BCE”

This paper argues that the walls of Athens not only served a practical purpose in the conflict
between the Athenians and the Spartans, but also served the ever-developing symbolic purpose of
expressing Athenian imperialistic ambitions during the Peloponnesian war. The walls’ symbolic
role was not a secondary to their practical use, but was in fact so central, that both the Athenians
and other Greek poleis expressed intense interest in them and strove to have them maintained,
destroyed or restored, even at times when they provided little actual benefit to Athens and served
no threat to their enemies.

A lot has been written about Athens’ walls, but most research has focused on the archaeological
evidence and topography of the walls. Two recent works have explored other aspects of the walls:
David H. Conwell’s Connecting a City to the Sea has explored the use of the walls, and in the fifth
chapter of her book The Dance of the Islands, Christy Constantakopoulou examined the meaning
of insularity that the Long Walls allowed in Athenian imperialistic context. This paper strives to
go further, and argues that the imperialistic symbolism of the walls goes back to the restoration of
the city walls at the end the Second Greco-Persian War, in the midst of rising tension between the
Athenians and the Spartans. The Athenian insistence on restoring the walls despite Sparta’s
objections first rendered Athenian fortifications a symbol of defiance and military ambition; from
then on, every additional fortification added another layer of meaning to the walls as a symbol of
power, throughout the fifth and early fourth centuries.

Thus, the walls played a symbolic role in Athenian imperialism, both for the Athenians themselves
and other poleis, most significantly Sparta, as they continued regarding Athenian walls as a threat
and strove to tear them down.