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The Servian Walls in Rome: the tuff circuit that defended the city
The Servian Walls take their name from Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, but what remains visible today dates back to the middle of the 4th century BC. They were rebuilt after the Gallic invasion of 390 BC, when the old defences had proved insufficient. Eleven kilometres of tuff, twelve gates, a wall ten metres high.
How they were built
The tuff stone came from the quarries of Grotta Oscura, which was seized together with Veii in 396 BC. The blocks formed a wall four metres thick and ten metres high. A ditch ran along some sections, and on the northern side — the weak point of the city — there was also an agger, an earth rampart piled against the inside of the wall: it served to reinforce the walls and to give defenders a raised platform from which to repel attacks. And yes, there were catapults too.
Where to see them today
The most impressive stretch is that in Piazza dei Cinquecento, just outside Termini Station. This is where the most heavily fortified section ran. Other remains of the agger can be seen at the Municipal Aquarium in Piazza Manfredo Fanti. A notable section survives on the Aventine Hill, complete with a late-Republican catapult arch. Further fragments can be found at the Auditorium of Maecenas, Largo Magnanapoli, Palazzo Antonelli (another catapult arch here), Via Salandra and Via Carducci.
Of the twelve original gates, two remain: the Porta Esquilina (today the Arch of Gallienus) and the Porta Caelimontana (today the Arch of Dolabella and Silanus).
