DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0115
SECT. VII.]
The Walls of the City.
63
The wall and cliff then pass to the south of the Circus, which
was made in the foss, and then to the north of the pontifical palace
on the Quirinal; here it makes another angle, and turns to the
south, passing by the ruins of the Therms of Constantine near the
modern Piazza de Monte Cavallo. Thence the line of fortification
was continued across the short valley or foss to the eastern side of
the Capitol, thus joining together the defences of the Quirinal with
those of the Capitol. From the western side of that rock the forti-
fication was no doubt extended to the Tiber. In this part of the
city it is difficult to realize the exact line of the ancient fossce, and
yet it is very apparent they have had some influence on the con-
fused plan of the streets and buildings of this part of Rome.
A portion of a wall of the Kings is still visible under the cliff
of the Quirinal in the gardens of the Colonna Palace behind the
Piazza dei Apostoli, and therefore on the eastern side of the Via Lata,
as the Church of the Apostles is described in Anastasius as in
Via Lata. This part of the wall has served as a substructure for
the Thermae of Constantine. Another portion of the wall round the
foot of the Quirinal Hill is the one afterwards used as an enclosure
on that side for the Forum of Augustus. In that part there are no
cliffs, the road up the hill is very steep, but there was no vertical
cliff; in other parts the cliffs remain, with or without walls built
up against them.
The agger or bank of the fortifications of the Kings had been
entirely disregarded in the time of the Republic and the early
Emperors ; there are several instances of remains of houses built
upon the bank without the slightest regard to the injury done to
the defences. More usually the line of street follows the same line
as the wall, having been at the bottom or on the side of the old
foss, and the houses have their backs built up against the bank,
which is more or less cut away for the purpose.
In many parts of the city also the backs of the houses are against
the scarped cliffs, and sometimes there are gardens on the upper
level entered upon from the second or third story of the house.
The destruction of the buildings of the Empire in modern times has
thrown open the old walls in many places, where they could not
have been visible in the time of Dionysius, as for instance the de-
struction of the magnificent brick terraces of the Caesars has thrown
open the walls of the Kings on the Palatine, and the excavation of
the Lavacrum of Agrippina has thrown open part of the wall of the
Kings behind it against the cliff of the Viminal. The circumference
of the city of Rome, that is, the city of the Kings, can be more
The Walls of the City.
63
The wall and cliff then pass to the south of the Circus, which
was made in the foss, and then to the north of the pontifical palace
on the Quirinal; here it makes another angle, and turns to the
south, passing by the ruins of the Therms of Constantine near the
modern Piazza de Monte Cavallo. Thence the line of fortification
was continued across the short valley or foss to the eastern side of
the Capitol, thus joining together the defences of the Quirinal with
those of the Capitol. From the western side of that rock the forti-
fication was no doubt extended to the Tiber. In this part of the
city it is difficult to realize the exact line of the ancient fossce, and
yet it is very apparent they have had some influence on the con-
fused plan of the streets and buildings of this part of Rome.
A portion of a wall of the Kings is still visible under the cliff
of the Quirinal in the gardens of the Colonna Palace behind the
Piazza dei Apostoli, and therefore on the eastern side of the Via Lata,
as the Church of the Apostles is described in Anastasius as in
Via Lata. This part of the wall has served as a substructure for
the Thermae of Constantine. Another portion of the wall round the
foot of the Quirinal Hill is the one afterwards used as an enclosure
on that side for the Forum of Augustus. In that part there are no
cliffs, the road up the hill is very steep, but there was no vertical
cliff; in other parts the cliffs remain, with or without walls built
up against them.
The agger or bank of the fortifications of the Kings had been
entirely disregarded in the time of the Republic and the early
Emperors ; there are several instances of remains of houses built
upon the bank without the slightest regard to the injury done to
the defences. More usually the line of street follows the same line
as the wall, having been at the bottom or on the side of the old
foss, and the houses have their backs built up against the bank,
which is more or less cut away for the purpose.
In many parts of the city also the backs of the houses are against
the scarped cliffs, and sometimes there are gardens on the upper
level entered upon from the second or third story of the house.
The destruction of the buildings of the Empire in modern times has
thrown open the old walls in many places, where they could not
have been visible in the time of Dionysius, as for instance the de-
struction of the magnificent brick terraces of the Caesars has thrown
open the walls of the Kings on the Palatine, and the excavation of
the Lavacrum of Agrippina has thrown open part of the wall of the
Kings behind it against the cliff of the Viminal. The circumference
of the city of Rome, that is, the city of the Kings, can be more