Aurelian wall

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Course of the Wall (red), Servian Wall (black)
The Aurelian Wall at Porta San Sebastiano
Part of the Aurelian Wall at Porta Asinaria; clearly recognizable are two of the 383 defense towers and the arches of the integrated aqueduct of the Aqua Claudia

The Aurelian Wall is the most important city ​​wall in Rome , the first phase of which was started under Emperor Aurelian (270-275) and completed under Emperor Probus (276-282). Rome already had the Servian Wall from earlier times , but the city had long since outgrown the old wall.

Emergence

Construction (3rd century)

The erection of the wall represented the political admission of the emperors that even Rome, the capital of the empire , had to expect an attack by Germanic tribes. In the years 254 to 259 AD, Germanic tribes appeared several times on Italian soil, such as the Alemanni and the Goths . So far Rome had successfully repulsed these attacks before the capital was threatened; however, it was only a matter of time before Germanic associations would make it to Rome. The final impetus for the construction of the wall was the crushing defeat of Aurelian against the Juthung in January 271 in the battle of Placentia .

The wall was 19 km long, originally 6 m high and about 3.5 m deep. Most of it was made of bricks. There were 18 larger gates and 383 watchtowers, each about 30 meters apart. The architects included many existing buildings in the fortifications, which is a clear sign of the urgency of the construction project, for example the famous tomb of Gaius Cestius, the Cestius pyramid , the amphitheater Castrense , the Castra praetoria and parts of the aqueduct Aqua Claudia became part of it the wall.

Expansion (4th - 5th century)

The city wall was an effective protective wall, however, only against those attackers who lacked the technical and other requirements for a long wave of attacks or even a siege. Emperor Maxentius had the wall raised a little at the beginning of the 4th century AD. Later, the emperors Honorius (395-423) and Arcadius (395-408) had the walls raised to almost 11 m and reinforced. Now the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian , later Castel Sant'Angelo , was integrated into the fortifications as a citadel. In many cases the gates were turned into true fortress towers. Improvement and reinforcement measures also prompted Emperor Valentinian III. and the Eastern Roman general Belisarius .

effect

By integrating them into the wall, the old tombs became important as part of the defense of Rome and were therefore preserved even after the triumphant advance of Christianity. The Aurelian Wall was difficult to defend with its length of 19 km.

The last great service rendered the Aurelian Wall to Pope Pius IX. when he wanted to oppose the unification of Italy . His proposal was finally nullified on September 20, 1870, when the Bersaglieri broke through the wall at Porta Pia and thus completed the unification of Italy. In addition, the wall finally lost its function as a protective city wall at that time because Rome had grown beyond its limits.

The city wall is almost completely preserved. Towards the end of the 19th century, many parts were returned to their supposedly ancient original state and relieved of medieval or early modern additions.

List of goals

Starting in the north, clockwise:

literature

  • Hendrik W. Dey: The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome. AD 271-855 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-76365-3 ( review ).
  • Rossana Mancini: Le mura Aureliane di Roma. Atlante di un palinsesto murario. Quasar, Rome 2001, ISBN 88-7140-199-9 .

Web links

Commons : Aurelian Wall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ′ 24 ″  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 56 ″  E