Rome was a mighty nation that conquered other nations, but that didn’t mean that Rome wasn’t vulnerable to outside attack. One of the tactics that the Ancient Romans used was to build large walls around the city.

One such wall was the Aurelian Wall. The Aurelian Wall was built in response to several attacks from Germanic tribes in 270 A.D. As a result the Aurelian Wall was built pretty hastily, with concrete, mortar and brick. Despite the emergency building of the Wall, parts of the Wall are still standing today. It’s kind of a testament to Ancient Roman engineering.

The Servian Wall was built from volcanic rocks, and parts of the Wall are still intact. The Servian Wall was built as part of a defensive strategy against the Gauls. In the Second Punic War, Hannibal’s army was camped just outside of this Wall. Due to a turn in the tide of the War, Hannibal retreated. It would have been interesting to see if this Wall could have sustained an attack from Hannibal!

Hadrian’s Wall was built largely for symbolic purposes. Impressive as it was, Hadrian’s Wall could not have prevented a large scale invasion from bordering tribes. Rather, the Wall was built to intimidate small bandit groups from wreaking havoc on the border. The Wall also served as a reminder that Rome’s presence in Britannia (present day Britain) was permanent.