Rome's pre-Imperial circuit walls pose a particular problem of reconstruction: collectively, their 11 km course represents the largest single monument of the early city, but our understanding of this structure is based on an assemblage of several dozen disparate archaeological sites. After tracing the interpretation of these fragments from antiquity to the present, this article examines the literary, topographical and archaeological evidence for the wall's character and date. Ultimately, the non-archaeological data are inconclusive, and the material evidence seems to affirm an early phase (sixth centurybc) focused on individual hilltops, rather than encompassing all hills within a full course. Following this logic, I continue to question the presence of a unified circuit wall at Rome prior to the mid-Republic (fourth centurybc). A concluding section reviews the historical circumstances in support of this view.
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