July 2005		Book of the Month - July		Mark Merlino - Home page
The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453. Stephen Turnbull & Peter Dennis. Osprey, 2004.
This book beautifully combines maps and photos with illustrations of Byzantine Constantinople. Also, in this relatively short book, Turnbull gives a fairly comprehensive sketch of Byzantine Constantinople, in relation to the city's fortifications. The book begins by giving the reasons for the construction of the walls of Theodosius II, then goes on to describe their design. Turnbull makes a very thorough survey of the different sections of the walls before talking about how the walls were part of the life of Constantinopolitans. The book then briefly tells the story of the various sieges of the city and finishes by describing the walls in contemporary times. Turnbull and the illustrator Peter Dennis have created an excellent book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Byzantine history, ancient fortifications or anyone wanting to travel to Istanbul.