would be shattered to pieces by a wedge; moreover, distinct
tool-marks can be seen on all the blocks whose surface is well preserved
and in the quarries themselves. Chisels from one-fourth to
three-fourths of an inch in width were used, and also a sharp-pointed
pick or hammer. The wall is about 10 ft. thick at the bottom, and
increases in thickness above as the scarped cliff against which it is
built recedes. It is built of blocks laid in alternate courses of headers
and stretchers, varying in thickness from 22 to 24 in., in length
from 3 to 5 ft. and in width from 19 to 22 in. These blocks are
carefully worked on their beds, but the face is left rough, and the
vertical joints are in some cases open, spaces of nearly 2 in. being
left between block and block; in other cases the vertical joints
are worked true and close like the beds. No mortar was used. At
two points on the side of the Velabrum winding passages are
excavated in the tufa cliff, the entrance to which was once closed
by the ancient wall. One of these in early times (before water in
abundance was brought to the Palatine on aqueducts) was used as
a reservoir to collect surface water, probably for use in case of siege;
circular shafts for buckets are cut downwards through the rock from
the top of the hill. A similar rock-cut cistern with vertical shafts,
of very early date, exists at Alba Longa. Opposite the church of
S. Teodoro a series of buttresses belonging to the early wall exists,
partly concealed by a long line of buildings of the later years of the
Republic and the early Empire, to make room for which the greater
part of the then useless wall was pulled down, and only fragments
left here and there, where they could be worked into the walls of
the later houses.
The age of the walls here described cannot be determined with certainty, but their resemblance to the remains of the “Servian” wall, especially in the system of “headers and stretchers” and the dimensions of the blocks, makes it certain that they do not differ greatly in date from that work. The chief technical difference lies in the open vertical joints found in some cases; but too much stress should not be laid on this feature. There are, however, at the western angle of the hill some remains of an earlier fortification, constructed with blocks of grey-green tufa, smaller in size than those of the main wall. A few courses have been preserved, owing to the fact that at the angle of the hill this wall was encased first of all by that described above and afterwards by concrete substructures of imperial date. The technique is primitive, as the blocks are of irregular size and are not laid in courses of “headers and stretchers”; the nearest parallel is supplied by the foundations of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. These remains are shown by Delbrück, Der Apollotempel auf dem Marsfelde, pl. iii., cf. p. 13 f.
Pliny (H.N. iii. 66) tells us that the city of Romulus had three gates (cf. Serv. Ad. Aen. i. 222); and three approaches to the Gates of Roma Quadrata. Palatine city can be traced. One is the so-called Scalae Caci, a long sloping ascent cut through the rock (see fig. 17) from the side of the Circus Maximus; some remains of the early wall still exist along the sides of this steep ascent or staircase. The upper part of this has remains of a basalt pavement, added in later times, probably covering the more ancient rock-cut steps. The name of the gate which led at this point into the Palatine city is unknown. The only two gates whose name and position can be (with any degree of probability) identified are the Porta Romanula and the Porta Mugonia. The former of these is called Porta Romana by Festus (ed. Müller, p. 262), who states that it was at the foot of the Clivus Victoriae (see fig. 17) and was so called by the Sabines of the Capitol because it was their natural entrance to Roma Quadrata (see also Varro, L.L. v. 164 (who only mentions the two gates named above), vi. 24). It would thus have been at the foot of the hill in the Velabrum (see below, p. 600); but Varro says that it was approached by steps from the Nova Via,[1] which would place it at the N. angle of the Palatine. The stairs connecting the Nova Via with the Clivus Victoriae still exist. Doubtful traces of the Porta Mugonia (see Sol. i. 24) have been discovered where a basalt paved road leads up into the Palatine from the Summa Sacra Via and the Summa Nova Via, which join near the arch of Titus; exposure to weather has now destroyed the soft tufa blocks of which this gate was built. This is probably the “vetus porta Palatii” of Livy (i. 12), through which the Romans fled when defeated by the Sabines.
The Palatine settlement was the nucleus around which, by a series of expansions, the historical city of Rome grew up. The first step Growth of early Rome. was the amalgamation of Roma Quadrata with the villages on the neighbouring spurs of the Esquiline and Caelian. This gave birth to the community of the Seven Hills, whose existence is proved by the survival of the festival known as the Septimontium, celebrated on the 11th of December (Fest. 340; Macrob. i. 16, 6). The seven hills were not those familiar in later nomenclature, but the following:—(1) Palatium and (2) Cermalus, the two summits of the Palatine; (3) Velia, the saddle between the Palatine and Esquiline; (4) Oppius and (5) Cispius, the two Westernmost spurs of the Esquiline, together with (6) Fagutal, the extreme crest of the Oppius; (7) Sucusa (confused by later writers with Subura), the eastern spur of the Caelian. Varro (L.L. v. 48) mentions the murus terreus Carinarum, which may have belonged to the defences of this community, since the N.W. slope of the Oppius bore the name Carinae; but there is no proo that the Septimontium was a walled city.
The next stage in the development of Rome was marked by the division of the city into four regions, ascribed by tradition to Servius Tullius,[2] who was said to have formed the four city tribes, corresponding with the regions: (1) Suburana, including the Caelian and the valley between that hill and the Esquiline; (2) Esquilina, the Oppius and Cispius; (3) Collina, the Quirinal and Viminal; (4) Palatina, including the Palatine and Velia. The third region was an addition to the City of the Seven Hills; the new city was, in fact, formed by the union of the old Latin settlement with a Sabine community on the Quirinal. The Capitol was the citadel, but was not included in the city (hence the phrase urbs et Capitolium).
Tradition likewise assigned to Servius Tullius[3] the construction of the great wall which embraced not merely the four regions but Line of Servian wall. a considerably extended area, including the Aventine. Excavations have done much to determine the line of the Servian wall, especially the great works undertaken in laying in out a new quarter of the city on the Quirinal, Esquiline and Viminal, which have laid bare and then mostly destroyed long lines of wall, especially along the agger. Beginning from the Tiber, which the Servian wall touched at a point near the present Ponte Rotto, and separating the Forum Holitorium (outside) from the Forum Boarium (inside), it ran in a straight line to the Capitoline hill, the two crests of which, the Capitolium and the Arx, with the intermediate valley the Asylum, were surrounded by an earlier fortification, set (Dionys. ix. 68) ἐπὶ λόφοις . . . καὶ πέτραις ἀποτόμοις. In this space there were two gates, the Porta Flumentana, next the river (see Cic. Ad Att. vii. 3; Liv. xxxv. 19, 21); and the Porta Carmentalis close to the Capitolium.[4] From the Capitoline hill the wall passed to the Quirinal along a spur of elevated ground, afterwards completely cut away by Trajan. Close to the Capitol was the Porta Fontinalis, whence issued the Via Lata. Remains of the wall and foundations of the gate exist in Via di Marforio. After passing Trajan's forum, we find remains of the walls on the slope of the Quirinal. A piece of the wall has been exposed in the new Via Nazionale, and also an archway under the Palazzo Antonelli, which may represent the Porta Sanqualis (see Festus, ed. Müller, p. 343). The Porta Salutaris (Festus, pp. 326-327) was also on the Quirinal, probably on the slope between the Trevi fountain and the royal palace. Its position is indicated by the existence of some tombs which give the line of the road. On the north-west of the Quirinal was the Porta Quirinalis (Festus, p. 254), probably near the “Quattro Fontane.” In the Barberini palace gardens, and especially in those of the Villa Barberini (Horti Sallustiani), extensive remains of the wall have been recently exposed and destroyed,—which was also the fate of that fine piece of wall that passed under the new office of finance, with the Porta Collina, which was not on the line of the present road, but about 50 yds. to the south (see Dionys. ix. 68; Strabo iv. p. 234). Thus far in its course from the Capitol the wall skirted the slopes of hills, which were once much more abrupt than they are now; but from the Porta Collina to the Porta Esquilina it crossed a large tract of level ground; and here its place was taken by the great agger described below. About the middle of it the Porta Viminalis was found in 1872; it stood, as Strabo (iv. p. 234) says, ὑπò μέσῳ τῷ χώματι, and from it led a road which passed through the Porta Chiusa (ancient name unknown) in Aurelian's wall. Foundations of the Porta Esquilina were found in 1875 close behind the arch of Gallienus. The further course of the wall across the valley of the Colosseum is the least known part of the circuit. Hence the wall skirts the slopes of the Caelian (where, as is probable, it was pierced by the Porta Caelemontana and Porta Querquetulana) to the valley along which the Via Appia passed through the Porta Capena, near the church of S. Gregorio. Its line along the Aventine is fairly distinct, and near S. Balbina and in the Vigna Torlonia are two of the best-preserved pieces (see below). There were three gates on the Aventine,—the Porta Naevia on the southern height, P. Raudusculana in the central depression, and P. Lavernalis on the northern summit. Under the Aventine it appears to have touched the river near the existing foundations supposed to be those of the Pons Sublicius. The Porta Trigemina was close by the bank. Hence to our starting-point the river formed the defence of the city, with its massive quay wall.
The wall is built of blocks of tufa, usually the softer kinds, but varying according to its position, as in most cases the stone used Its construction. was that quarried on the spot. In restorations a good deal of peperino is used. The blocks average from 23 to 24 in. in thickness—roughly 2 Roman feet—and are laid in alternate courses of headers and stretchers. The method of construction varied according to the nature of the ground
- ↑ “ Novalia,” MSS. “Navalia” has been conjectured.
- ↑ Varro, L.L. v. 46-54.
- ↑ Livy i. 44; Dion. Hal. iv. 13. The wall is, however, said to have been planned and partly executed by Tarquinius Priscus (Liv. i. 36, 38; Dion. Hal. iii. 37); and the fortification of the Aventine is ascribed to Ancus Martius (Dion. Hal. iii. 43).
- ↑ See Sol. i. 13; Liv. ii. 49, xxiv. 47, xxv. 7. xxvii. 37; Ascon. Ad. Cic. in Toga, p. 81.
