NIC FIELDS

Constructed to protect the coastline of southern and eastern Britain, the forts of the 'Saxon Shore' are among the most impressive surviving monuments of the Roman occupation of the British Isles, although much about them remains a mystery. In an impressive outlay of money, manpower and materials the frontier system stretched from the Wash to the Solent and included the heavy fortification of the major harbours and estuaries of the east and south-east coast. This book explores the history of this frontier system the ruins of which define the British landscape to this day.

Mycenaean society was constantly geared for battle and invasion. Their 'cities' were heavy fortresses with unimaginably thick perimeter walls. Legendary sites such as Mycenae, Tiryns, Argos, Krisa, the Athenian Acropolis and Gla are all representative of their fortified citadels that dominated the Greek countryside for some 300 years until their sudden decline and abandonment around 1100 BC. This title describes the golden age of these fortifications; it details how these formidable structures were constructed and extended, as well as revealing the elaborate palace complexes built by the great Mycenaean warlords immortalised in the verses of Homer's Iliad.

En la canícula del 415 a.C., Atenas lanzó un ataque preventivo contra Siracusa, acuciada por el brillantepero temerario general Alcibíades, quien afirmaba que los siracusanos estaban proveyendo de suministros a la hostilLiga del Peloponeso. Si Atenas lograba establecerse en Sicilia, detentaria una posicion dominante para luego atacarCartago y tambien conseguiria el dominio del Mediterraneo. Nic Fields examina la insensata campaña en la que Atenasignoro las implicaciones estrategicas de atacar a una nacion situada a 1.100 km de distancia, para lo que aparejo dosenormes armadas y alisto 60.000 ciudadanos atenienses y de sus aliados, y los lanzo a una guerra de dos años contra laotra unica democracia del mundo griego.

The development of the city-state in the Classical period of Greek history ensured a shift in the nature of fortifications in the region. No longer were fortresses designed to defend a ruler and his entourage, rather the whole of the citizen body had to be protected against any outside threats. The enceintes of these Greek city-states did not have to be very high or strong as city-state conflict was still decided by spear and shield, though some thought was still given to the science of fortification. This book details the construction and ongoing development of the defences that protected some of the most illustrious sites in Greece during the most famous period of her history.