The Theodosian Walls

Perhaps the most iconic feature of Medieval Constantinople from a defensive perspective were the Theodosian Walls. These replaced an earlier wall built by Constantine. The Theodosian Walls were completed in 423AD. These walls protected the city from repeated attacks through the ages from Persians, Avars, Arabs, Rus and evening stopped the Ottomans in 1422!

The Walls were built from stone with brick bands decorating them in a distinctive Byzantine style. The inner wall had 96 towers some of which were up to 60’ in height! The outer wall was about 27’ tall but still a formidable obstacle. In 1422 and 1453 the Byzantines decided to try to man this wall as the main part of their defence.
Beyond that was a small defensive wall - just 6’6” tall and beyond that a 60’ wide most which was 20’ deep! I have not yet modelled the moat, but it will be included on the completed model.

Painting the wall has proved much more time consuming than I expected! I’ve got a metre of model walls still to go and have only painted 30cm so far! So far I’ve spent about 12 hours just on the wall. Luckily I’m able to alternate it with other painting projects and resting my eyes regularly. The Walls were 3D printed using the excellent designs by Jon Matthews.

The models create an excellent representation of the real Theodosian Walls and even in 2mm look seriously formidable! It will take some serious Ottoman cannon fire to breach these!