ABSTRACT
The theme of transition provides a useful conceptual framework to probe an array of inquiries related to the multifaceted role of fortifications in the evolution of Byzantine cities from the end of Late Antiquity to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453. Before anything else, the need for protection and control of space was a dynamic factor that shaped cities’ development, while providing the necessary conditions for socioeconomic and cultural life. This chapter aims to address aspects of these realities in an attempt to better understand the ways military architecture framed the spatial perception as well as the daily experience of cities in Byzantium. Through the long history of Byzantium, fortification works outlined and contained urban life. In middle-Byzantine Christoupolis, present-day Kavala in Northern Greece, an anonymous inscription still echoes messages from the past.
