By Funso Aina
One needs to visit Rome, to truly understand why many poets like Virgil, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Tibullus, Ovid and others called it the ‘Eternal City.’ This is because of its tremendous historical, artistic, cultural richness and sophistication. Indeed, everywhere you look in this place, there’s ancient history staring at you in the face. For instance, just looking outside my hotel room window, I can almost touch the world famous ‘Aurelian Walls’ (Italian: Mura aureliane) – a line of city walls built between 271 and 275AD in Rome, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Aurelian.
Standing in some places up to 10 metres (33 ft) high, the walls were constructed from tiled bricks and concrete, and used to enclose all the seven hills of Rome. By 500 AD, it was said to have 383 towers, 7,020 crenellations, 18 main gates, 5 postern gates and 2,066 large external windows. It did duty as the city’s primary fortification until the 19th century.
However, beyond being awed by looking at, and touching this remarkably well-preserved ancient history, what I more than find amazing is how they have built modern structures into some parts of the wall in a beautiful symmetrical order, weaving their entire history into the every day life. As a matter of fact, there are some parts of the wall and its towers that have become domestic properties in Rome (see pics).
Fascinating!
