This page intentionally left blank 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 andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, 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