Walls of Constantinople
The Edwardian castles also made strong symbolic statements about the nature of the new occupation. For example, Caernarvon was decorated with carved eagles, equipped with polygonal towers and expensive banded masonry, all designed to imitate the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, then the idealised image of imperial power. The actual site of the castle may also have been important as it was positioned close to the former Roman fort of "Segontium". The elaborate gatehouse, with an excessive five sets of doors and six portcullises, also appears to have been designed to impress visitors and to invoke an image of an Arthurian castle, then believed to have been Byzantine in character.