 Hey, this is Darius Aria for the American Institute of Roman Culture. This is the webinar today. We're talking about the walls of Rome. You can follow us at Save Rome on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Please consider making a contribution to sustain our efforts. We're a U.S. non-profit 501c3. You can easily make a contribution on our website through PayPal. We love collaboration. We love reaching out and doing special things with schools, universities, and so forth. If there's any kind of way you like to collaborate or be a part of an internship program and so forth, please contact us at Save Rome. Contact me, Darius Aria, and let's just jump into it. There are three wall circuits that we want to talk about today. The first one we don't really see here on this typical map of Rome, it's the wall circuit that went around the Palatine Hill. We talked just the other day about the founding of Rome, the birthday of Rome, the founder Romulus, and the myths associated with it. Where we start to look at the archaeological evidence that gets very tantalizing, very interesting, very juicy is the area around the Palatine Hill. We can look at just a couple of resources to make us more familiar with the legends of the foundation and that first wall. The area then is going to be basically encircling the Palatine Hill. That's where tradition says that Romulus founded Rome. What he does is he takes a plow, takes an oxen, and he yokes the oxen to the plow, and he creates a furrow around his city. A very modest city, by all means, in the beginning. The tradition is that it goes largely around the Palatine Hill, ultimately considered to be also Roma Quadrata, roughly a square. What happens is as you make if you've never been on a farm or seen how a plow works, it digs into the dirt and then creates this furrow. It creates a deep rift in the dirt and then pushes the plow, pushes the dirt off to either side. That's going to be what they call the line created is going to be this sacred boundary for the city. Then they describe this line as the pomerium. Pretty much on one side of it is outside where you're going to build your walls. Then on the inside, that's where you're living. Over time, as we can see from this map, let's move back a little bit. What you see over time is one wall circuit, the Servian wall attributed to one of the kings of Rome. Then the larger wall circuit, the Aurelianic wall circuit of Imperial Rome in the third century. What you're doing then is as your city increases, your boundary increases, so your pomerium, this kind of protective magic boundary line constituted traditionally by Remus, by Romulus, is going to be pushed out further and further matched by another wall. That's because the entailment of the ruler or the general that brings more land under the control of Rome is then awarded by the Senate and the gods the opportunity to extend that magical protective boundary line of the city limits. You get the extension of Rome to be larger and larger. Finally, our third wall circuit is pretty much going to delineate what Rome becomes in the imperial period. That is obviously the great circuit that you can see as a visitor today. Now, as we make our way through some of these terms and in particular these walls, keep in mind that there's almost always going to be a dedicated video on ancient Rome line. The Servian wall, there's a video. There's a written summary and then afterwards there is the still essential and very readable Platinum Ashby from 1929 out of copyright. We include directly there versus you have to go search for the entries to the old topographical dictionary that's kind of like was the old standard. And so as a result for the Servian wall, the Aurelianic wall, next week we'll be talking about the hills of Rome. There's always an opportunity to search through the index of ancient Rome live.org and find more information on these things we're talking about and keep the questions coming. So how many walls are there? Again, there's the early wall around a very modest Rome of one hill, the wall of Romulus that has been by archaeologists identified in different bits and pieces throughout the piling on of Republican Rome and Imperial Rome along the Palatine hill. Those identifications of the Romulan wall have on the one hand been identified by the excavators as in fact coexisting and dating to the time of Romulus in the middle of the 8th century BC. Those at large have been called into question in more recent times so I wouldn't really, if you do want to really dig deep into this topic, a lot of controversy surrounding it, a lot of controversy surrounding the time of Romulus in this particular area, we could spend several hours on the subject. So I would just say take the legends and take the more recent maybe bits of information that have popped up about the walls of Romulus with a heavy grain of salt and then maybe at another time we can spend a little more time talking about it but I really want to talk to you about Tacitus who gives a nice kind of summary about really what this outline of the city was like. So he says that the primarium we talked about this magical boundary line on the walls is created by Romulus and it seems to be reasonable subject of investigation. From the Forum Boarium, the cattle market, we cover that in H-Rum Live. Then with a brazen bull meets the view as explained with the animal's use in the plow, the furrow to mark out, the furrow to mark out the town was cut so as to take the great altar of Hercules, I believe we cover that, that's basically also in the Forum Boarium. From that point Boundary stones were interspersed at fixed intervals along the base of the Palatine Hill up to the hour of Consis that's within the Circus Maximus that runs along one side of the Palatine Hill then again to the Shrine of the Lawries and after to the Roman Forum. So he just described these points, these four corners outside the Palatine Hill which is literally right next to my head and under the Ocordia, up to the Shrine of the Lawries and after that to the Roman Forum, we know how the Roman Forum butts up again to the Palatine Hill again many videos of that in H-Rum Live. The Forum, the Capital, was believed to be out of the city not by Ronus but by Titus Titus so basically this Titus figure who co-rules with Ronus afterwards he's adding even the area of the Forum, the Capital Line Hill. So really that magical boundary line, the definition really of the city of Rome starts off with the Palatine Hill according to the Romans themselves. Later the Primarium grew with the National Fortunes. The limits are now determined by Claudius are both easily identified and recorded in public documents. So that's basically in the time of Tastus in the first century as referring to the last person who extended the city boundary lines, it was Claudius. So that's what we want to say about the first wall. Let's jump to where we know more information about the Serbian walls. The Serbian walls are attributed to the Sixth King of Rome and what we have then is a big circuit. We're going to be talking about the Hills of Rome all next week. You see Escolon and Vimero and Palatine and Chylian and Aventine, Little Aventine, Capital Line, Queridon, so these are hills and the area there is about a thousand acres. In contrast, the much larger Aurelianic walls will be three thousand acres. So this wall is pretty impressive, roughly four meters thick, ten meters in height and what we have then is a literary tradition, an oral tradition that becomes a literary tradition that says it's the Sixth King of Rome roughly 575 to 535 BC and then when we look at the archaeological evidence and we look at the major tracks of that wall that had been preserved, let's say by the train station, let's say by the Aventine hill. The material used, and this is fun in archaeology, this is like one of those things that everybody knows when they study archaeology in Rome, the material used is a particular kind of tuf, this natural material that's formed through the eruption of volcanoes about 30 kilometers from Rome. So you have big eruptions, down comes volcanic material, kind of settles and then you've got first of all the Hills of Rome, that's what they're made out of, and then you get people pouring out that material into blocks and making the Hills of Rome. So the earlier sections that we can identify, they go back to the regal period, are made with one kind of tuf, as we call this volcanic material, the stonework that eventually also be tunneled through to make the catacombs. And then we have the majority of the impressive sections of the Serbian wall preserved made of grotto oscura, tuf. Well they come from Vey, and Vey is not conquered by the Romans until 396 BCE. That's well beyond the time of Serbius. So what's going on here? What's going on here is it seems that A, there is an original circuit of the regal period, and B, what we have has been either a modification, reparation, an extension, or a bit of both after Rome conquered the southernmost Etruscan city of the Etruscan League, and that is Vey, a mere handful of miles north of Rome. So we want to keep that in mind as a real critical piece of information. So yeah, somebody asked if the walls have names, and the answer is yes. So they totally call this the Serbian wall, modus servituli. So that's the name that's described to it. The excavators find big sections with the unification of Ili in the 19th century, and they say we found it. We've now uncovered things that by the time of Augustus had been forgotten, and now we've recovered them. That's why they're in such good shape, because they get buried and forgotten as Rome extended beyond the walls and the scale of the regal of Republican city. And there are actually, yes, a lot of, there are a lot of, there are a lot of entrances. I don't actually want to spend too much time to get into the gate systems, which is a great question. But essentially, if we do look behind me, you can start to see even in this map, very clearly the gates, the Irianic wall, which we'll get to. And then we can see lots of openings for the Serbian wall surfing, but lots of entrances, lots of ways to get into the city, of course. And then somebody asked, what about the campus marshes? Why is a huge area of the campus marshes that we know it's so famous? There's the Pantheon, Piazza Devona, the Mausoleum of Augustus, and so forth. Why isn't that inside the walls? Let's never forget that the campus marshes, look what it's next to, look what goes around it, the Tiber River. So the Tiber River flooded frequently. Like imagine every five years or so in much of the Republican times, and it slows down a bit. But let's say that's not where you want to be living. That's not, that's not a place that initially you want to live. As Rome extends, as Rome harnesses and takes better care and puts up some of its own flood walls in ancient times, then you start to build out more in the campus marshes. But the campus marshes was a flood plain, and in the dry season, right through part of the year, you could practice your military maneuvers, you could exercise, you could ride your horse, and so forth. And it was first regal property under the tarp winds, and then it becomes city property. But it's outside the city limits for a very, very long time. Those are great questions, great observations. That's what this is all about. Did any of the walls ever fall down? Absolutely. In fact, we can see examples of reparations throughout the circuits. And think about the Aurelianic walls. Even when Rome under the popes didn't want to be part of the unification of Italy, those walls were still being used. So they've been damaged, they've been rebuilt, they've been damaged again, and they've been rebuilt again. And so when you go along the circuit, one day I'll take you guys on a scooter ride or something, we'll film the entire circuit, or we can walk along them, that takes a while. Because the outer wall circuit is a 12-mile circuit, then you'll just see so many different phases in rebuilding over time. But it is magnificent, and it is spectacular, especially when we're talking about the Aurelianic wall circuit. And we can turn to that, I think, with the remaining time. The Aurelianic wall circuit is built in a time of crisis in the empire. And the wall circuit is built between 271 and 275, and circling about 3,000 acres. It's brick-faced concrete instead of the older circuit, which was cut blocks of tuff. It's about three and a half meters thick and eight meters high, a tower every hundred Roman feet. So this was just a monster. And a sixth century catalog tells us there were 383 towers, over 7,000 trendulations, five posters, 116 latrines, 2,066 external windows. Wow, what does it encompass? The 14 regions. The 14 regions were created delineated by Augustus, and roughly then those 14 regions are encircled in this wall circuit. And the height is doubled subsequently. So it's going to get taller and more imposing with the passing of time. It includes the 14 regions of Rome. That is, the campus marshes and Tristevere. You see a big wedge of Tristevere. The other side of the type of river is included, top of the Geniculum Hill ridge, and then of course all these major hills of Rome, including also down south there, the Emporium and the Hordia, the warehouses, and even Multistacio. A big dump of fragmented amphorae. That's just an artificial man-made hill, which we can talk about another time. So the route was chosen, it seems, due to pretty much their topographic concerns, economic concerns, strategic concerns. So you're not just blindly following these 14 regions, because we don't exactly even know what those delimitations were exactly. But you're definitely concerned about weak points, you know, high points, low points, where can people attack you very easily. You're concerned about the type of river, people using that to get across. You're concerned about ultimately, you know, not ruining your city economy, so you don't want to leave out certain parts of the city and building areas. And so yes, this, the really Antique Wall is the largest circuit. It's this big one right here that we see behind me, including campus marshes, all the hills started off by the Serbian Wall, and then going beyond, right? Going beyond. And then you can see the shape, certain things start to pop out. So the reason why you can build something that large so quickly is that you start to encompass buildings that already exist. So what could you incorporate? What could be in its path that could serve still as a defensive, as a defensive, you know, purpose? So what about the big tomb of Sestius that looks like a big pyramid? What about the amphitheater in the Cessaurian palace? What about the Castor of Pretoria? The Castor of Pretoria is over there up above me by the Porta Nomantana. And then you can sort of make out that that square is rectangular, is kind of outline. So you incorporate places that already have walls, you incorporate large structures. You incorporate some of the aqueduct channels, the big impressive arcades of the arches of the aqueducts. You just fill them in, and they become part of your wall circuit. So you really are being smart. And you're doing this because times are uncertain, Northern Italy has been invaded. There's a breakaway empire in the western part, and there's a breakaway kingdom in the east. You need to consult your power, and you're afraid that Rome, the power base, is going to be, you know, devastated. So again, the Rhinianic wall is the biggest wall. It's also the tallest wall. And exactly even houses, let's say apartment buildings, we have some examples of that, were incorporated into the wall. So you know these insulari, these multi-story structures, they, some of them, are filled in, blocked up, and then become part of that circuit. So the Romans are very practical. The Romans are very smart. And so they're thinking about, you know, we've got to get this done. We've got to get it done quickly. What can we do? What's in the way? What do we not want to tear down? And so forth. So it really was, I think, a very successful enterprise. And you know, ultimately, when Rome, and throughout the rest of antiquity, is going to be sacked, let's say, 410 famously. It's not because the walls are being dismantled. It's because you're simply bribing someone, and they're letting you in. That's generally how these things are going to be happening. In addition, so you've got Aurelians below the walls, Maxentius to Enorius, they're going to be doubling at the height. Felisarius, we're told, in the Gothic wars, in the 530s, is going to dig a big ditch in front of the wall. So that means if you're getting close to attacking the wall, then you're going to suddenly find that wall much taller because you entered into a big ditch. The Renaissance popes continue to restore the wall. And more than anything, it's that size and scale of it serves as a long-term deterrent, balancing out the fact that Rome itself as a power is lessened with the passing of time. So the gates, the famous gates of the Aurelianic wall, one of the standouts on the Via Appia, is the Porta Appia. So you name a lot of these gates after the roads, Porta Flamenia, Porta Salaria, for the Via Salaria, Porta La Montana, and so on. And then in the Christian era, these gates get renamed, they get Christian names. So the Porta Appia famously becomes the Porta San Sebastiano, because it's going to take you out to the Catacombs of the Church of St. Sebastian, for example. The Porta Asteensei, you go through that gate, and you head out to Ostia. That becomes the Porta San Paolo, because in that direction, going through that gate, you head out to St. Paul's, outside the walls. So I think that these are some of the main points I wanted to cover today. Let's see if there are more questions in terms of, yep excuse me, Porta Asinati is right there by my shoulder, by St. John Latterin. Some names are a little more tricky or curious than others. But definitely what we have here is an impressive, actually the largest monument from ancient Rome. It's not the Colosseum, you know, it's not the remains of the Circus Maximus or whatnot. It is the wall circuit itself. So that's worth a view. It's worth taking a look at our video on the gates, excuse me, on the Ariana Wall Circuit, on the Serbian Wall Circuit. And certainly we have a lot more to share with you within the walls of Rome. Coming up next week, we'll be talking about, I think on Sunday, on the Roman Triumph. Then we're going to be pivoting to the Seven Hills of Rome. We'll do a walkthrough of every single one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome, the ones that are initially encircled by the Serbian Wall. Get more familiar with these things. Of course, if you want, we encourage you to go to the YouTube channel or go to ancientromelive.org and read and see the videos and read about each one of those seven cities as well. And we'll take a little tour through it together. Let's see if there are any more questions. The stretch is called the Michelangelo's Bastion. Yeah, I mean there are a lot of different sections that are attributed to a lot of different Renaissance artists. So I think that one in particular might be, according to his design or attributed to him. Sometimes not everything that's attributed is able to be ascertained, but I believe he had a hand in some parts of it as well. I think, for example, he had the design for what we call the Porta Pia, the nomentona gate. That was initially his design, of course, looks much different nowadays. The doors and the wall sections being preserved and someday at risk. Well, I've got to tell you, I remember that I've seen a section of the Aaronianic walls maybe 10, 15 years ago. I've been here quite a while and I remember this section just poof fell apart. So they're always working on them. They're always cracks. There's always caper plants that are growing on the walls. There's always a fig tree that's very invasive. So the work in the maintenance is constant. There's just a video today from a particular sale that showed how they're going to be doing more work, conservation work on the arches of Tamiya Severus. These things need to be protected. Of course, being the largest monument in the city of Rome, the city walls need a lot of work. And some sections have been recently restored. Other ones are going to be continually needing them. No, so yeah. So why is it really a building in this wall? Well, come back to Ramius in a nutshell. Ramius builds his wall because this idea of the primordial city has to have walls. You're on a high point, Palatine Hill, and you want to protect yourself from attack. You get more confident to go down below. You make the form. You start to trade with people. You have a bit of an emporium over there along the Tiber River by San Amalbona, kind of area of Formuarium. And then you start to extend that wall circuit to protect more people that are living there. And you eventually protect, you can close the seven hills of Rome. And then the next iteration is you start to live beyond the walls because you're very confident about yourselves. You don't even need to live within those walls because you've now conquered the peninsula of Italy. But you have your own civil wars and people are dying Roman against Roman regardless of the walls because they're already inside the walls. Then we progress to when there really isn't necessary to have those walls to protect you because you've got this empire and imperial period in particular until the power it starts to wane. And this is this period of crisis in the third century. And at a certain point, cities that never had walls in the imperial period are getting walls in the third century. And that's what happens with Rome, the barbarians at the gate, this kind of thing. And so up come the Orinianic walls, they remain in use all the way in some form or another with the unification of Italy in the 19th century. So I think those are great questions, great observations. Do people still live within the walls? You're looking right at them. I live within the walls. And that's one of those fun things. I'm in the campus marshes near where Julius Caesar was assassinated. So I love living in history. Love sharing history with you. Please, please subscribe to the YouTube channel, share it with your friends, share it with your students, share it with your colleagues. And please subscribe to the newsletter to get more updates on the weekly videos and hromelive.org. We ask you both to do these two things and then pretty soon we'll be rolling out a more concerted effort asking you to sustain this however you can. But we'd like to keep these webinars going. We're going to be going outside so we're scaling up. And we want to keep this momentum and this outreach to all of you, sharing Rome history, its relevance today, and just a lot of learning opportunities for you and your students. Thanks very much.