Servian Wall

The wall is named after the sixth Roman King, Servius Tullius. The literary tradition stating that there was some type of defensive wall or earthen works that encircled the city of Rome dating to the 6th century BC has been found to be false.{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Jesse Benedict |title=The Evolution of the City of Rome from Its Origin to the Gallic Catastrophe |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1909 |volume=48 |issue=192 |pages=129–141 |jstor=984151 }} The main extent of the Servian Wall was built in the early 4th century BC, during what is known as the Roman Republic.

The Servian Wall was originally built from large blocks of Cappellaccio tuff (a volcanic rock made from ash and rock fragments that are ejected during a volcanic eruption) that was quarried from the Alban Hills volcanic complex.{{cite journal |last1=Panei |first1=Liliana |title=The tuffs of the 'Servian Wall' in Rome: Materials from the local quarries and from the conquered territories |journal=ArchéoSciences |date=10 April 2010 |issue=34 |pages=39–43 |doi=10.4000/archeosciences.2599 |doi-access=free }} This initial wall of Cappellaccio tuff was partially damaged and in need of restoration by the late 390s (either because of rapid disintegration or damage sustained after the Sack of Rome in 390 BC).{{cite book |last1=Le Glay |first1=Marcel |last2=Voisin |first2=Jean-Louis |last3=Le Bohec |first3=Yann |last4=Cherry |first4=David |title=A history of Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-8327-7 |oclc=760889060 }}{{pn|date=August 2022}} These reparations were done using the superior Grotta Oscura tuff which had become available after the Romans had defeated Veii in the 390s.{{cite book |last1=Le Glay |first1=Marcel |last2=Voisin |first2=Jean-Louis |last3=Le Bohec |first3=Yann |last4=Cherry |first4=David |title=A history of Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-8327-7 |oclc=760889060 }}{{pn|date=August 2022}} This tuff was quarried by the vanquished Veientines.{{Cite book|last=Forythe|first=Gary|title=A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War|publisher=University of California|year=2005}}{{pn|date=August 2022}} In addition to the tuff blocks, some sections of the structure incorporated a deep fossa, or a ditch, in front of the wall, as a means to effectively heighten the wall. This second iteration of the wall containing Grotta Oscura tuff is dated by Livy to have been completed in 378 BC.{{cite book |last1=Le Glay |first1=Marcel |last2=Voisin |first2=Jean-Louis |last3=Le Bohec |first3=Yann |last4=Cherry |first4=David |title=A history of Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-8327-7 |oclc=760889060 }}{{pn|date=August 2022}}

Along part of the topographically weaker Northern perimeter was an agger, a defensive ramp of earth that was built up along the inside of the Servian Wall. This effectively thickened the wall and also gave the defenders of Rome a base to stand while repelling an attack. The wall was also outfitted with defensive war engines, including catapults.{{cite journal |last1=Frank |first1=Tenney |title=Notes on the Servian Wall |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=1918 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=175–188 |doi=10.2307/497234 |jstor=497234 |s2cid=191393088 }}

The Servian Wall was maintained through the end of the Late Republic and into the Roman Empire. By this time, Rome had already begun to outgrow the original boundaries of the Servian Wall.

The Servian Wall became unnecessary as Rome became well protected by the ever-expanding strength of the field armies of the Republic and of the later Empire. As the city continued to grow and prosper, Rome was essentially without a border wall for the first three centuries of the Empire. Expanding domestic structures simply incorporated existing wall sections into their foundations, an example of which survives in the Auditorium of Maecenas.{{cite journal|last1=Kontokosta|first1=Anne|date=January 2019|title=Building the Thermae Agrippae: Private Life, Public Space, and the Politics of Bathing in Early Imperial Rome|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=123|issue=1|pages=45–77|doi=10.3764/aja.123.1.0045 |s2cid=239359878 }} When German tribes made further incursions along the Roman frontier in the 3rd century AD, Emperor Aurelian had the larger Aurelian Walls built to protect the city of Rome.{{sfn|Watson|1999|pp=51–54, 217}}

Several sections of the Servian Wall are still visible in various locations around the city of Rome. The largest section is preserved outside the Termini Station, the main railway station in Rome – including a section in a McDonald's dining area at the station. Another notable section on the Aventine Hill incorporates an arch that was supposedly for a defensive catapult from the late Republic.

File:ArchofGallienus2.jpg was originally a gateway in the Servian Wall. In the later Roman Empire it became known as the Arch of Gallienus, and was the starting point of the via Labicana and the via Tiburtina.]]

The following lists the gates that are believed to have been built, clockwise from the westernmost. (Many of these are inferred only from writings, with no known remains.)

• Porta Flumentana – this gate was where the via Aurelia entered Rome after crossing the Tiber River.
• Porta Carmentalis – the western end of the Capitoline.
• Porta Fontinalis – led from the northern end of the Capitoline into the Campus Martius along the via Lata.
• Porta Sanqualis – on the Quirinal.
• Porta Salutaris – on the Quirinal.
• Porta Quirinalis – on the Quirinal.
• Porta Collina – the northernmost gate, on the Quirinal, leading to the via Salaria. Hannibal camped his army within sight of this gate when he considered besieging Rome in 211 BC. This section was additionally fortified with the agger.
• Porta Viminalis – on the Viminal. This is near the large section still visible outside Termini Station.
• Porta Esquilina – this gate on the Esquiline is still visible, and incorporates the later arch of the emperor Gallienus. It led to the via Labicana, via Praenestina and via Tiburtina.
• Porta Querquetulana – this led to the Via Tusculana.
• Porta Caelimontana – this gate is perhaps preserved in the Arch of Dolabella and Silanus, which was the reconstruction of an existing gate in 10 AD by the consuls Dolabella and Silanus.
• Porta Capena – this was the gate through which the via Appia left Rome to southern Italy after separating from the via Latina.
• Porta Naevia – this gate on the Aventine led to the via Ardeatina.
• Porta Raudusculana – headed south along the Tiber River along the via Ostiensis. Near here, on the modern viale Aventino, may be found a section of the wall incorporating an arch for a catapult.
• Porta Lavernalis – also joined up with the via Ostiensis.
• Porta Trigemina – this triple gate near the Forum Boarium also led to the via Ostiensis.

File:Ripa - le mura a via di sant anselmo 051211-06.JPG|The Servian Wall at Via di Sant Anselmo

File:Piazza fanti, resti dell'agger delle mura serviane 03.JPG|in the Piazza Manfredo Fanti

File:Esquilino - mura serviane all'auditorium 1120875.JPG| incorporated in the Auditorium of Maecenas

File:Sallustiano - mura serviane a via Salandra 1010013.JPG|in the via Salandra

File:Monti - mura serviane a Magnanapoli 1010002.JPG|at Largo Magnanapoli

File:S Sabina mura serviane 1150186.JPG|in Santa Sabina crypt

File:New passenger building - Interior - 2.jpg|in Termini station

• Museum of the Walls, Rome

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Bernard |first1=Seth G. |title=Continuing the debate on Rome's earliest circuit walls |journal=Papers of the British School at Rome |date=October 2012 |volume=80 |pages=1–44 |doi=10.1017/S0068246212000037 |id={{ProQuest|1289736245}} |jstor=41725315 |s2cid=161228648 }}
• Carandini, A., P. Carafa, Italy, and Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza.,” eds. 2012. Atlante di Roma antica: biografia e ritratti della città. Milano: Electa.
• {{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Jesse Benedict |title=The Evolution of the City of Rome from Its Origin to the Gallic Catastrophe |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1909 |volume=48 |issue=192 |pages=129–141 |jstor=984151 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Cifani |first1=G. |year=1998 |title=La documentazione archeologica delle mura arcaiche a Roma |journal=Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung |volume=105 |pages=359–389 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Cifani |first1=Gabriele |chapter=The fortifications of Archaic Rome: social and political significance |pages=82–93 |jstor=j.ctvh1dv3d.12 |editor1-first=Rune |editor1-last=Frederiksen |editor2-first=Silke |editor2-last=Müth |editor3-first=Peter I. |editor3-last=Schneider |editor4-first=Mike |editor4-last=Schnelle |title=Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East |date=2016 |publisher=Oxbow Books |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dv3d.12 |isbn=978-1-78570-131-3 }}
• Claridge, Amanda. Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 2010. Oxford Archaeological Guides
• {{cite book |last =Coarelli|first=Filippo |title=Guida Archeologica di Roma |year= 1989 |publisher=Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano}}
• Forsythe, Gary. 2005. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. Berkeley: University of California Press
• Holleran, C., and A. Claridge, eds. 2018. A companion to the city of Rome. Blackwell companions to the ancient world. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• {{cite journal |last1=Merrill |first1=Elmer Truesdell |title=The City of Servius and the Pomerium |journal=Classical Philology |date=1909 |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=420–432 |doi=10.1086/359328 |jstor=262369 |s2cid=161086450 |doi-access=free }}
• Showerman, Grant. 1969. Rome and the Romans: A Survey and Interpretation. New York: Cooper Square
• {{cite book |last=Watson |first=Alaric |title=Aurelian and the Third Century |year=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-07248-4}}

• [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Murus_Servii_Tullii.html Servian Wall entry on the Lacus Curtius website]
• [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/portae.html Lacus Curtius page including gates in the Servian Wall]
• [http://www.rom.geographie.uni-muenchen.de/publications/ArchStadtRomHaeuberMapA.jpg Map showing the "Servian" wall based on new research results] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105413/http://www.rom.geographie.uni-muenchen.de/publications/ArchStadtRomHaeuberMapA.jpg |date=2016-03-04 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Lucentini |first1=Mauro |title=The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City |date=2012 |publisher=Interlink Publishing |isbn=978-1-62371-008-8 }}

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