Maiden Castle (3)
Maiden Castle is a prehistoric fortification with origins in the Neolithic. In the Iron Age, with the threat of a Roman invasion looming, the earthworks were enlarged and made much more elaborate, so that the place was considered to be invincible. The castle walls were steep, and there were four of them, one inside the other; the gateways were designed in such a way that any arrival had to wend his way between the walls. Nevertheless, the army of Vespasian was able to discover a weak point. The Romans fought their way into the castle and the inhabitants - several thousand Celtic men, women and children - were all either burnt or put to the sword.
This photo, taken from the spacious interior of the citadel, shows the four steep embankments.
Maiden Castle is near Dorchester, in Dorset, England.