When my wife and I last visited Rome we spent some time visiting and walking along these impressive Roman walls.
(We found it a fascinating and wonderful experience that we will never forget. I could hardly believe that we were actually walking by the ancient walls of the city of Rome!!)
Anyway, I am wondering about the arches and openings in these walls.
For example, by the ancient Roman Porta Asinaria and the renaissance gate Porta San Giovanni, there are many arches built into wall. Some of these arches span modern highways below that go through the wall.
I am wondering if these arches were always part of these walls and, if so, did these arches have something to do with ancient defenses. Or, were these arches and the openings below added in modern times. If so, were these sections of wall torn down (I hope not) and then rebuilt with the arches?
Thank you so much for your help.
Sincerely,
Rich
Answer Dear Rich,
the Aurelian walls, as well as the Roman Forum, the Palatine Hill, the Capitoline Hill, the Colosseum, the triumphal arches and all the other fascinating ruins of ancient Rome, witness still today the past power and prosperity, in short the magnificence of the Roman Empire.
As for the arches and openings in the Aurelian walls [long about 20 kilometres, 60 feet high, built of brick-faced concrete with square massive towers at intervals of about 100 Roman feet] constructed under the Emperor Aurelian (270-275 AD) to keep out invading barbarians, some of them date back to the 3rd.century when the walls were first constructed, while others are much earlier like e.g. the Porta Prenestina (today Porta Maggiore), which was built centuries before the wall in 52 AD by the emperor Claudius, and is formed by arches through two aqueducts(the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus), or the Porta Appia (today Porta San Sebastiano) which seems to have incorporated the so-called Arch of Drusus, a marble decorated arch of the Aqua Antoniniana aqueduct over the Via Appia, sometimes identified with the arch said to have been erected on the death of Nero Claudius Drusus, the father of the emperor Claudius, in 9 BC.
The arches you refer to were often part of some aqueducts like e.g. the Porta Tiburtina (or Porta San Lorenzo) incorporated in the Aurelian Walls, though originally it was an arch, built under Augustus, in the point in which three aqueducts (Aqua Marcia, Aqua Julia and Aqua Tepula) passed over the Via Tiburtina.
In short, the Aurelian walls first constructed in the second half of the 3rd century AD by the emperor Aurelian, improved under the emperor Honorius in the early 5th century, and restored by Theodoric the Great in the 6th century and by several medieval popes, have often incorporated preexisting arches and were remodelled so that e.g. in the 5th century AD doubled their height, by which time the circuit possessed 383 towers and 18 main gates.
Anyway, as far as I know, being not an archaeologist, these arches and the openings were not added in modern times and modern highways you mention are merely the ancient Roman consular roads like via Salaria, via Nomentana, via Tiburtina, via Latina, via Appia, via Tuscolana, via Flaminia, via Aurelia.
This because modern Italian roads often follow the traced route of the ancient Roman roads, since the Romans were famous for their roads that were essential for the growth of their Empire,just because an excellent road system enabled the Romans to move their legions.
Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria
