Aurelian Walls

You see them everywhere. Walls. Walls will always be part of everything from homes, shops, fortifications, and any kind of building imaginable. This also holds true even in ancient times. Do you know any kind of historically significant walls that were built in the past? An example of this would be the Great Wall of China. It's so popular that you've most likely already heard of it. It's just one of the many walls known in history. As you've seen in the title, we'll be talking about one such historically significant wall. The Aurelian Walls. 

The Aurelian Walls  are a line of city walls built between 271 - 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. They superseded the earlier Servian Wall built during the 4th century BC. 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 the entire enclosed area is 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres). The wall cut through populated areas: in reality the city at the time embraced 2,400 hectares or 6,000 acres.  

(Source: Wikipedia)

        The full circuit ran for 19 km (12 mi) surrounding an area of 13.7 km2 (5.3 sq mi). The walls were constructed in brick-faced concrete, 3.5 m (11 ft) thick and 8 m (26 ft) high, with a square tower every 100 Roman feet (29.6 m (97 ft).

(Source: Wikipedia)

The Aurelian Walls were built to increase the city's defenses and alleviate its vulnerability. As the Roman empire's borders were getting bigger and bigger, Rome, the capital city of the Roman empire, needed to have more defenses, so that they could protect the capital from invasion. 

The picture below is a part of The Aurelian Walls. It is a restored section between two towers that are part of the wall:

This is Porta Asinaria, is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Dominated by two protruding tower blocks and associated guard rooms, it was built between 270 and 273, at the same time as the Wall itself. It is through this gate that East Roman troops under General Belisarius entered the city in 536, reclaiming the city for the Byzantine Empire from the Ostrogoths:

           

      Lastly, This is an interior view of the Aurelian walls near Porta San Sebastiano, 

      The Porta San Sebastiano is the largest and one of the best-preserved                    gates passing through the Aurelian Walls in Rome: 

       

         

How does the specified wall contribute or affect human relationships?

The walls helped protect the citizens of Rome making the city at the very least a bit safer in the times they were in. However, these walls also made a sort of barrier that made the city a bit less closer to the places beyond the walls. When you enter a city and just see this huge wall in your way, you'll feel intimidated. It won't be as welcoming as seeing a city without walls.

So walls have their own ups and downs that come with them.

Discuss your idea about Mending walls or Building bridges.

Building bridges is much better than mending walls, since making new connections with others is much more preferable than isolating yourself and building a "wall" around yourself. Humans are social creatures, which means we need a certain amount of social interaction. With the advent of the internet, as well as social media, connecting with others became a lot easier. Even just scrolling through Facebook or commenting on posts online count as social interaction. No one can live on their own without some sort of companion. As the Harvard Women’s Health Watch reported, “Dozens of studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.”

REFERENCES: 

Brody, J. E. (2017, June 12). Social Interaction Is Critical for Mental and Physical Health. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/well/live/having-friends-is-good-for- you.html

Aurelian Walls. (2022, February 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls

Porta San Sebastiano. (2022, April 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porta_San_Sebastiano

Porta Asinaria. (2022, May 6). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porta_Asinaria