Rome's Wall deserves more coverage...

[caesar novus]

I went to Rome's little museum of the wall, which was mostly reading captions within one of the elaborate gates. It piqued my interest in this massive monument, and I found some enjoyable walks alongside which sometimes are pleasant underused parks. I think these massive walls (dwarfing the colloseum and maybe even the pyramids in volume?) deserve more attention, and wondered why the seem to be overlooked:

 

- You assume a wall is essentially a 1 or 2 dimensional boring object (but it rambles around interestingly).

- The gates are somewhat anticlimatic and are chokepoints where you tend to rush thru.

- They are a mixture of old and newer rennovations, so not an obvious signature of one era.

- It''s tends to be out of the tourist center.

 

All the more reason that it's an undiscovered gem for media coverage or visitation. I guess now you can trace thru it in google satellite or http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=rome+wall but I would like to see more. A documentary could even capture the modern uses, such as gated communities that are alongside (peek in to see the quiet splendor - it is quiet along the wall due to no cross traffic).

 

And do we really understand some of the peculiar features? For instance it goes right on top of many monuments and such, which they say was to save construction materials. The museum had an additional explanation that you don't want to leave a structure outside the walls that enemies could use for cover and offense. But did these really require just clobbering these (sometimes elaborate) structures? Lots of grist for a ten part documentary... well maybe not commercial enough.

Edited May 21, 2010 by caesar novus

[Ursus]

Which wall? The Aurelian Wall?

[caesar novus]

Which wall? The Aurelian Wall?

Both, but that big one is most impressive. I'm just not sure how much of what you see is Roman vs medieval upgrades. Walking around, I hardly noticed the inner republican walls, and at first I only noticed the outer ones from popping in and out of gates. But a few times I walked parts of the Aurelian ones lengthwise, and it was so atmospheric just from the height, mass, and quiet of the walls. Not just the dimensions, but the variations of the walls and adjacent strips of parks.

 

Speaking of volume, I guess the great pyramid is about 2.5 million cubic meters. The original Aurelian is listed as 8h x 3.5w x 19000long = 0.532mcm. But the height was doubled with hundreds of towers added (100+ projecting latrines you can see today) so I'm gonna guess 1.5 mcm. Add to that the republican walls, and the volume of bricks, etc must be more than half of a pyramid - it's just a stupendous ancient accomplishment there to be seen but largely ignored.

Edited May 23, 2010 by caesar novus

[Centurion-Macro]

It is an interesting idea, and it should be given more attention, but it is not that important in history. It was only to defend the city, which really only needed defending in the later years of the empire.

[Ludovicus]

This thread makes me want to visit the walls of Rome during my next visit. I know that in the struggle for Italian unification in the mid-1800s battles were fought at the walls with the Pope relying on them to prevent the incorporation of Rome into a unified Italy.

[caesar novus]

not that important in history. It was only to defend the city, which really only needed defending in the later years of the empire.

What about the deterrence factor? People wonder why Hannibal didn't finish off the capital city, but from staring up at the imposing walls I have developed a theory. He didn't mind dodging arrows and spears, but to step under those latrines projecting from the wall just freaked him out. How could he command his army with poop all over his uniform? Yes, he was a clean freak... and Rome survived because of the latrines (well maybe the republican walls didn't have those).