We know little about the very first defensive structures that protected Rome's original nucleus, over 2700 years ago; the top of two adjoining hills, the Capitolium and the Palatine, was enclosed by two separate walls; the one on the Palatine was probably rebuilt over a pre-roman structure, and protected Romulus's House, claimed to be the dwelling site of the mythical founder and first king of Rome.
Only few visible traces, both of the Palatine's and of the Capitolium's wall, now survive (the latter is shown on the left). Therefore, these are the only walls not dealt with by the following pages. |
| As far as now the physical walls have been described, i.e. the ones made of stones or bricks that kept the enemies away from the city. Besides this material boundary, Rome also had a formal boundary, called pomerium (a contraction of post = "beyond" and moerium = archaic term for "wall"). It marked an inner territory, which was considered sacred, and therefore had some important religious and legal implications.
Its perimeter was marked by marble cippi such as the one in the pictures, set at a regular distance. Only eight of the original cippi have been retrieved so far, whence today's difficulty in tracing such boundary. Furthermore, the pomerium was not perfectly parallel to the walls, so that the strip of land between the latter and the sacred boundary had an irregular extension. This was partly due to the fact that when new walls were built, the pomerium was left as it was, only to be enlarged on different occasions.
As a matter of fact, the pomerium was considered the real boundary of the city: whatever fell within its line was the actual Rome, whereas the land between the cippi and the walls was simply 'Rome's property'.
The Romans inherited the use of a religious boundary from the Etruscans, so very likely a pomerium existed since the very foundation of the city: this was the mythical line traced by Romulus, the first king and founder of Rome. The furrow left by his plough symbolized a moat. Servius Tullius, the sixth king, lengthened its course, likely by the time when a first defensive structure was built around the city. Instead it was not modified when an actual set of walls was built (4th century BC ). Under the dictatorship of Sulla (82-80 BC ) the pomerium was lengthened again, and then other times during the imperial period, by a number of emperors, among which Octavianus Augustus, Claudius (right), Vespasian (above), Trajan, Aurelian.
The most important spots, such as the temple of Jupiter, the Fora, the Curia where the senators met, and others were inside the boundary; the Campus Martius, where the soldiers trained, the temple of Isis, the Theatre of Marcellus, and other and was outside. Also the whole Aventine hill was left outside the original pomerium, and so did the Esquiline hill. |
Nobody could cross the pomerium carrying weapons, not even generals (only in times when a dictator was appointed, he was entitled to infringe this rule). Crossing the boundary was also forbidden for monarchs of other cities or states who, when paying an official visit to Rome, had to stop before its ideal line. Nobody could be buried inside the pomerium, giving reason why even the imperial mausoleums were located on relatively outer spots.
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