Aurelian Walls

The Aurelian Walls (Italian: Mura aureliane) are a line of city walls built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus.

The walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city limits appear to have been left unfortified, although they were fortified along the Campus Martius. The size of entire enclosed area is 1400 hectares.

Construction

The full circuit ran for 19 kilometres (12 mi) surrounding an area of 13.7 square kilometres (5.3 sq mi). The walls were constructed in brick-faced concrete, 3.5 metres (11 ft) thick and 8 metres (26 ft) high, with a square tower every 100 Roman feet (29.6 metres (97 ft)).

In the 4th century, remodelling doubled the height of the walls to 16 metres (52 ft). By 500 AD, the circuit possessed 383 towers, 7,020 crenellations, 18 main gates, 5 postern gates, 116 latrines, and 2,066 large external windows.

Aurelian

Aurelian (Latin: Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus; 9 September 214 or 215 – September or October 275), was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. Born in humble circumstances, he rose through the military ranks to become emperor. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome, and the abandonment of the province of Dacia.

His successes were instrumental in ending the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis or 'Restorer of the World'. Although Domitian was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus (master and god), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian.

Aurelian (disambiguation)

Aurelian can refer to:

Aurelian (entomology)

Aurelian is an archaic word for lepidopterist, one who is interested in butterflies. The term is derived from aurelia, meaning chrysalis, and relates to the golden color it may attain just before the butterfly emerges; the Latin word for gold is aurum.

Aurelian Societies

Aurelian societies were formed several times in Britain, but each time they collapsed. Edward Newman in his Grammar of Entomology (1835) notes:

The Society of Aurelians

The Society of Aurelians in London, England, was one of the oldest organized bodies of specialists in any branch of zoology and was probably founded by Joseph Dandridge and a few others. They collected and documented insects from the 1690s, and these collections were made available to the naturalist John Ray. The history of the society is known only from the works of Benjamin Wilkes in his book The English Moths and Butterflies (1748–9). The society flourished for a time but came to an abrupt end in March 1748. While members of the society were in a meeting in Swan Tavern in Exchange Alley, a great fire broke out in Cornhill and enveloped them. All the members escaped, but their entire collection, library, and records were destroyed. This event was documented by Moses Harris in The Aurelian; or, Natural History of English Insects (1765). The loss disheartened the group so much that they never managed to regroup again.