Fortifications are militaryconstructions designed for defensivewarfare. They have been used for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The practice of improving an area's defense is also known as "fortification". Many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always "fortified".
... a role similar to that of Latin in Western Europe. It was (and still is) a language of religious ritual and scholarship, and it had locally varied spoken forms ...