Alexander's Wall in Iran

[Cyrus]

Gogan (Wolf's Land) is an ancient region located southeast of the Caspian Sea. North of Gorgan, close to the Turkmenistan frontier, are the remains of an ancient wall known as Sadd-e Eskandar, or Alexander's Wall. According to popular belief, this wall was built by Alexander of Macedonia.
Alexander's Wall (155 km long and 6 to 10 m wide) is one of the most outstanding and gigantic architectural monuments in "Da+íte Gorg+ón & Gonbad" Steppes (Gorg+ón Plain) history.
This wall which is the largest defensive wall in the world after the Great Wall of China, starts from the Caspian coast, circles north of Gonbade K+óvous, continues towards northwest and vanishes behind Pi+íkamar Mountains.
At parts, this wall is 6 m wide and in other parts the width is 10 m, which proves that the thickness of the wall differs in various regions, according to the natural features and soil configuration.
Castles have been built at different distances. The longest distance between castles is 50 km and the shortest is 10 km.The 40 identified castles vary in dimension and shape but the majority are square fortresses.

[marcus]

Hi Cyrus,I have a vague recollection that this wall has been mentioned on the forum before, but it must have been some time ago.Hasn't it been established that the wall is definitely later than Alexander's time? I suppose it would be a bit like all the places we have in the UK that are associated with King Arthur, despite being geographically or chronologically absurd!But I'd love to know who *did* build that wall!All the bestMarcus

[yiannis]

Well, I doubt that it was built by Alexander but it was probably built by one of the Hellenistic Kingdoms that followed. One should be able to tell by the technique used to build it. Aren't there any inscriptions on the wall?

[Nicator]

I seem to recall this wall being mentioned in Michael Woods video "In the Footsteps of Alexander". Michael and a female scientist walked along the side of the wall and she confirmed that it was Alexanders wall. It seems a bit unlikely to me that this is the case, as Alexander didn't stay around long enough to begin such a large construction project. The second reason being that Alexander strikes me as the type of individual who would have balked at the idea of having to construct a defensive bulwark. He was all about attack-attack-attack, that way I won't have to worry about defense. He knew all too well that this type of structure was virtually useless militarily speaking. Having circumvented these types of bulwarks on numerous occasions, most notable on the way to battle in Issus.
later Nicator