If we may generalise from the most perfect specimens of Phoenician
town-walls that are still fairly traceable, as those of Eryx and
Lixus,[652] we may lay it down, that such walls were usually flanked,
at irregular intervals, by square or rectangular towers, which projected
considerably beyond the line of the curtain. The towers were of a more
massive construction than the wall itself, especially in the lower
portion, where vast blocks were common. The wall was also broken at
intervals by gates, some of which were posterns, either arched or
covered in by flat stones,[653] while others were of larger dimensions,
and were protected, on one side or on both, by bastions. The sites of
towns were commonly eminences, and the line of the walls followed
the irregularities of the ground, crowning the slopes where they were
steepest. Sometimes, as at Carthage and Thapsus, where the wall had to
be carried across a flat space, the wall of defence was doubled, or even
tripled. The restorations of Daux[654] contain, no doubt, a good deal
that is fanciful; but they give, probably, a fair idea of the general
character of the so-called "triple wall" of certain Phoenician cities.
The outer line, or {proteikhisma}, was little more than an earthwork,
consisting of a ditch, with the earth from it thrown up inwards, crowned
perhaps at top with a breastwork of masonry. The second line was far
more elaborate. There was first a ditch deeper than the outer one, while
behind this rose a perpendicular battlemented wall to the height, from
the bottom of the ditch, of nearly forty feet. In the thickness of
the wall, which was not much less than the height, were chambers for
magazines and cisterns, while along the top, behind the parapet, ran
a platform, from which the defenders discharged their arrows and other
missiles against the enemy. Further back, at the distance of about
thirty yards, came the main line of defence, which in general character
resembled the second, but was loftier and stronger. There was, first,