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The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial
Rome, AD 271–855
This book explores the relationship between the city of Rome and
theAurelianWallduringthesixcenturiesfollowingitsconstruction
in the 270s AD, a period when the city changed and contracted
almost beyond recognition, as it evolved from imperial capital into
the spiritual center of Western Christendom. The Wall became the
singlemostprominentfeatureintheurbanlandscape,adominating
presencewhichcamebodilytoincarnatethepolitical,legal,adminis-
trative and religious boundaries of urbs Roma, even as it reshaped
both the physical contours of the city as a whole and the mental
geographies of “Rome” that prevailed at home and throughout the
knownworld.Withthepassageoftime, thecircuittookona lifeof
its own as the embodiment of Rome’s past greatness, a cultural and
architectural legacy that dwarfed the quotidian realities of the post-
imperialcity as much as itshapedthem.
hendrik w. dey
isAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofArt
atHunterCollegeintheCityUniversityofNewYork.Heisco-editor
withE. Fentressof WesternMonasticismantelitteram:TheSpacesof
Monastic Observance in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
(2011).
The Aurelian Wall and the
Refashioning of Imperial Rome,
AD 271–855
hendrik w. dey
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,
Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521763653
#HendrikW.Dey2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Dey,HendrikW.,1976–
TheAurelianWallandtherefashioningofimperialRome,AD271–855/HendrikW.Dey.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-0-521-76365-3(Hardback)
1. Rome(Italy)–Antiquities,Roman. 2. Walls–Italy–Rome–History. 3. Rome(Italy)–
Buildings,structures,etc. 4. Urbanlandscapearchitecture–Italy–Rome–History.
5. Architecture–Socialaspects–Italy–Rome–History. 6. Rome(Italy)–Geography. 7. Rome
(Italy)–Sociallifeandcustoms. 8. Cityandtownlife–Italy–Rome–History. 9. Socialchange–
Italy–Rome–History. I. Title.
DG67.D492011
9370.6306–dc22
2010030002
ISBN978-0-521-76365-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
List of abbreviations [page vii]
List of figures [x]
Acknowledgements [xiv]
Introduction [1]
1 Toward an architectural history of the Aurelian Wall, from its
beginnings through the ninth century [12]
1.1 Thebasics:anoverview [12]
1.2 Aurelian’sWall [17]
1.3 Honorius’Wall [32]
1.4 Thefifthandsixthcenturies [48]
1.5 Theearly-medievalrenaissanceoftheAurelianWall [63]
2 Planning, building, rebuilding, and maintenance: the logistical
dynamics of a (nearly) interminable project [71]
2.1 TheplanningandplacementoftheWall [72]
2.2 BuildingtheWall [87]
2.3 Subsequenthistory [100]
2.4 TheWallandtherefashioningoftheurbanadministration [102]
3 Motives, meaning, and context: the Aurelian Wall and the late
Roman state [110]
3.1 ThemotivesforAurelian’sWall [111]
3.2 ThemeaningandmessageofAurelian’sWall [116]
3.3 Newwalls,oldrealities,andthechangingfaceofthe
late-antiquecity [123]
3.4 HonorianRomeandCelestialJerusalem [137]
3.5 SedesPetri;caputmundi?RivalsofRomeandtheimitationofthe
AurelianWall [155]
4 The city, the suburbs, and the Wall: the rise of a topographical
institution [160]
4.1 Urbsandsuburbium [161]
4.2 TheimmediatetopographicalimpactoftheWall,local [163]
4.3 TheimmediatetopographicalimpactoftheWall,regional [169]
4.4 TheimmediatetopographicalimpactoftheWall,citywide [185]
v
vi Contents
4.5 Bigwalls,smalltown:Romeafterempire [196]
4.6 ThetopographicalNachlebenoftheAurelianWall [199]
5 Sacred geography, interrupted [209]
5.1 Murosdilatavit,pomerioaddidit:theimmuringofthe
pomerium [209]
5.2 TheWall,thelaw,andthedefinitionofurbanspaceinthe
fourthcentury [213]
5.3 SpheresofsacralityandthecircumscriptionofRoma
Christiana [217]
5.4 TheWall,stationalliturgy,andtheboundariesoftheurban
church [225]
5.5 Inurbe,extramuros [230]
5.6 Thedeclineofthesuburbiumandtheriseoftheworld’slargest
reliquary [235]
6 The Wall and the “Republic of St. Peter” [241]
6.1 TheAurelianWallandthepost-Roman“state,”fromJustinian
toCharlemagne [241]
6.2 TheAurelianWallandPopeHadrian’sRome:thehomefront [250]
6.3 TheAurelianWallandtheinternationalpublicofPope
Hadrian’sRome [260]
6.4 Oldwallsdon’tdie,theyjustfadeaway... [271]
Conclusion [279]
Appendices ]
A Numerical data [283]
B The fourth century revisited: the problem of Maxentius [285]
C The post-Honorian additions to the Porta Appia and other
fifth- and sixth-century construction [292]
D The Aurelian Wall and the refashioning of the western tip
of the Campus Martius [304]
E The Pons Agrippae and the Pons Aureli: a tale of two
bridges [310]
Bibliography [315]
Index [353]
Abbreviations
ActaIRN ActaadArchaeologiametArtiumHistoriamPertinentia
(InstitutumRomanumNorvegiae)
AE Anne´eE´pigraphique
AJA AmericanJournalofArchaeology
AnalRom AnalectaRomanaInstitutiDanici
AnTard Antiquite´Tardive
ASRSP ArchiviodellaSocieta` RomanadiStoriaPatria
BEFAR Biblioth`equedesE´colesfran¸caisesd’Athe`nesetde
Rome
BullCom BullettinodellaCommissioneArcheologicaCommunale
diRoma
CAH TheCambridgeAncientHistory(2ndedn.)
CBCR CorpusBasilicarumChristianarumRomae
(Krautheimeretal.eds.)
CC CodexCarolinus(W.Gundlached.)
CCSL CorpusChristianorum.SeriesLatina
CIC CorpusIurisCivilis(Mommsen,Krueger,etal.eds.)
CJ CodexJustinianus
Dig. Digestum
Inst. Institutiones
Nov. Novellae
CIL CorpusInscriptionumLatinarum
CSEL CorpusScriptorumEcclesiasticorumLatinarum
CTh. CodexTheodosianus(Mommsenetal.eds.)
Nov. Novellae
DuraReports TheExcavationsatDuraEuropos
(M.I.Rostovtzeffetal.eds.)
EAA Enciclopediadell’ArteAnticaClassicaeOrientale
EFR E´colefranc¸aisedeRome
EpigAnat EpigraphicaAnatolica
Fontes FontesadtopographiamveterisurbisRomaepertinentes,
I(G.Luglied.)
FUR FormaUrbisRomae(R.Lanciani)
GR GregoriiI.PapaeRegistrumepistolarum(Ewaldand
Hartmanneds.)
vii
viii List of abbreviations
HA ScriptoreshistoriaeAugustae(E.Pohled.)
ICUR InscriptionesChristianaeUrbisRomae(G.B.DeRossied.)
ICUR,n.s. InscriptionesChristianaeUrbisRomae,novaseries
(A.FerruaandA.Silvagnieds.)
IGR InscriptionesGraecaeadResRomanasPertinentes
ILCV InscriptionesLatinaeChristianaeVeteres
ILS InscriptionesLatinaeSelectae
JRA TheJournalofRomanArchaeology
JRS TheJournalofRomanStudies
Lepiante LepiantediRoma(P.Frutazed.)
LP LiberPontificalis(L.Duchesneed.)
LTUR LexiconTopographicumUrbisRomae(M.Steinbyed.)
MAAR MemoirsoftheAmericanAcademy inRome
MEFR Me´langesd’Archeologieed’Histoire(E´colefran¸caisede
Rome;1881–1970)
MEFRA Me´langesdel’E´colefran¸caisedeRome.Antiquite´
(1971–)
MEFRM Me´langesdel’E´colefran¸caisedeRome.MoyenAˆge
(1971–)
MemAcLinc AttidellaAccademiaNazionaledeiLincei.Memorie
MGH MonumentaGermaniaeHistoriae
AA AuctoresAntiquissimi
EP Epistulae
SRG ScriptoresRerumGermanicarum
SRL ScriptoresRerumLangobardicarum
SRM ScriptoresRerumMerovingicarum
Notizie NotiziedegliScavidiAntichita`
Pan.Lat. PanegyriciLatini(NixonandRodgerseds.)
PBSR PapersoftheBritishSchoolatRome
P.Ital. DienichtliterarischenlateinischenPapyriItaliensausder
Zeit445–700(O.Tja¨dered.)
PL Migne,PatrologiaLatina
PLRE TheProsopographyoftheLaterRomanEmpire
(A.H.M.Jonesetal.)
Procopius BG:BellumGothicum
BP:BellumPersicum
BV:BellumVandalicum
RAC RivistadiArcheologiaCristiana
RE PaulysRealencyclopa¨diederclassischen
Altertumswissenschaft
RendAcLinc AttidellaAccademiaNazionaledeiLincei.Rendiconti
RendPontAc AttidellaPontificiaAccademiaRomanadiArcheologia
(SerieIII).Rendiconti
