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Today’s link is a long exploration of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). What stood out to me is that the walls kept the city safe for a millennium, surviving even the rise of artillery and gunpowder. In the end, when the Ottoman army broke through the walls on May 29 1453, it wasn’t due to a failure of the stonework.

The Ottomans had laid siege for 7 weeks, weakening the defenders inside. The Byzantine empire in control of Constantinople up to that point had not recovered from the sack of the city 100 years earlier (due to a breach of the weaker sea walls, not the Theodosian walls). Spread thin, they were unable to repel the final Ottoman assault on the city. The fall marked the end of the middle ages, and the start of the Renaissance, with Greek former Byzantine citizens fleeing from the city to Italy.