Mura Serviane
You’re looking at the line of one of Rome’s earliest city-scale defenses: the Servian Wall—Mura Serviane in Italian. It was built in the early 4th century BC and, in places, reached up to about 10 meters (33 ft) high. The wall’s engineering is surprisingly specific: it was made of volcanic tuff and could be around 3.6 meters (12 ft) wide at its base, with a total length of roughly 11 kilometers (6.8 mi). What’s more, it enclosed an area of about 246 hectares (610 acres) and is believed to have included around 16 main gates—though only one or two have survived. The whole project takes its name from Servius Tullius, Rome’s sixth king, even if the older tradition about a 6th-century BC defensive circuit doesn’t hold up. Construction details matter too: after damage by the late 390s BC (including after the Sack of Rome in 390 BC), repairs used Grotta Oscura tuff, and Livy dates that renewed wall to completion in 378 BC. …
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