The impressively preserved city walls of Resafa are the subject of some debate when regards to their age and to who's reign their construction can be credited to. Scholars seem to be split as to whether they were constructed in the reigns of the Emperor Anastasius (491-518 AD) or the Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD). Procopius' attributes the first stone wall to the reign of Justinian. However this cannot be wholly accepted as fact as Procopius' accounts are occasionally deliberately misleading and sometimes wholly inaccurate. The most well preserved and impressive of the gates still extant is the Sura Gate on the north side of the city.
Regardless of which reign they were constructed in the defences do seem to be Late Antique. The walls, their covered galleries, the towers and gates were well preserved when I visited in 2010. As a result of the civil war their current condition is hard to ascertain.
Creator
Joshua Bryant
Emma Loosley
Date of Visit
15th August 2010
Contributor
Joshua Bryant
William Chappell
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Type
Architecture
Tags
Anastasius, C4th-C5th, C5th-C6th, C6th-C7th, C7th-C8th, C8th-C9th, Defensive Network, Justinian, Late Antique, Procopius, Resafa
Collection
Item Type
Architecture
Citation
Joshua Bryant Emma Loosley, “Resafa City Gates and Walls,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed April 16, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/256.