The Forgotten Giant Fortification Wall Of The Eastern Romans.

00:12:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9kHLUHHAY

Ringkasan

TLDRThis video explores the fascinating history of ancient fortification walls, particularly the impressive Anastasian Wall in Turkey. Many ancient civilizations, like the Chinese, Sumerians, and Persians, built walls to defend their territories. The Anastasian Wall, built during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I, was a powerful structure in its prime, encircling Constantinople with a stretch of 56 km. It outmatched Hadrian's Wall in height and thickness, featuring towers and fortresses along its length. Despite considerable strategic importance, the wall faced challenges, including earthquakes and inadequate manpower due to the Justinianic Plague. Regular attacks by external forces like the Avars exposed its vulnerabilities, leading to its eventual abandonment in the late 7th century as the empire struggled with diminishing resources. Today, the remaining fragments of the wall are a testament to the Roman's engineering prowess. The video also shifts focus to a promotion for SPQR Shop, emphasizing its Roman history-themed handcrafted items.

Takeaways

  • 🏛️ The Anastasian Wall is a lesser-known yet impressive ancient Roman fortification.
  • 🧱 It was built during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I around the 5th century.
  • 📏 Measuring 56 km in length, it was taller and thicker than Hadrian's Wall.
  • ⚔️ The wall featured towers and continuous walkways for defense.
  • 🌍 It played a key role in fortifying Constantinople's defenses.
  • 🚧 Challenges like earthquakes and shortages of trained soldiers weakened its efficacy.
  • 📉 It was abandoned in the late 7th century due to lack of resources.
  • 🛡️ Despite its decline, it remains a testament to Roman engineering skills.
  • 🗿 Over time, it was used as a quarry by the local population.
  • 🛍️ The video includes a promotional segment for Roman-themed handcrafted items from SPQR Shop.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Ancient civilizations, such as the Chinese, Sumerians, Persians, and Romans, commonly constructed massive fortification walls for defense. Notable examples include the Great Wall of China and lesser-known Roman structures like Hadrian's Wall, Antonine Wall, and the Roman Limes. The Anastasius Wall in Turkey, less famous today, was a significant Roman fortification, larger than Hadrian's Wall, with towers and fortresses that helped protect Constantinople.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:12:46

    The Anastasius Wall, built during Emperor Anastasius I's reign, played crucial defensive roles by the 500 ADs. Initially effective, it faced challenges from manpower shortages, natural damages, and invaders like the Proto-Bulgarians and Avars. Despite efforts by leaders like Justinian to fortify it, resource constraints led to its eventual abandonment. Over time, the wall was dismantled for local construction, symbolizing the challenges in maintaining extensive fortifications over centuries.

Peta Pikiran

Mind Map

Pertanyaan yang Sering Diajukan

  • What is the Anastasian Wall?

    The Anastasian Wall was a fortification in Turkey, stretching 56 km, built during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I for defense purposes.

  • When was the Anastasian Wall constructed?

    It was likely built during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I, around the 5th century.

  • How long is the Anastasian Wall?

    The wall stretches for 56 km or 35 miles.

  • How was the construction quality of the Anastasian Wall?

    Despite being built with some haste, the wall met the usual standards for late antique Roman fortifications, using even rectangular stone blocks.

  • Why did the Anastasian Wall eventually become ineffective?

    It became ineffective due to a combination of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and a lack of soldiers to man it, especially after the Justinianic Plague.

  • Who was responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of the Anastasian Wall?

    Emperor Justinian personally oversaw the reconstruction after it suffered damage from earthquakes.

  • What eventually led to the wall's abandonment?

    By the late 7th century, the Roman Empire lacked the resources and personnel to maintain the wall, leading to its abandonment and eventual use as a quarry.

  • How does the Anastasian Wall compare to Hadrian's Wall?

    The Anastasian Wall was half the length of Hadrian's Wall but was thicker and taller.

  • What was the primary purpose of the Anastasian Wall?

    It served as a defensive fortification to protect Constantinople from invasions.

  • Did the Anastasian Wall play a role in later defense efforts?

    Though maintained for some time, it played little role in defending Constantinople in later decades.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:00
    many ancient cultures like to build
  • 00:00:03
    walls with the goal of Defending Their
  • 00:00:05
    Kingdoms or Empires against foreign
  • 00:00:08
    Invaders the most impressive example is
  • 00:00:11
    quite likely the Chinese wall which
  • 00:00:14
    actually is a series of multiple
  • 00:00:16
    different walls which were built
  • 00:00:19
    throughout various stages of the Chinese
  • 00:00:22
    kingdoms and
  • 00:00:24
    Empire the earliest portions were built
  • 00:00:27
    as early as the 5th Century BC whereas
  • 00:00:30
    the latest portions were built as late
  • 00:00:33
    as the early to mid 17th century ad but
  • 00:00:36
    there are plenty of other examples of
  • 00:00:38
    long fortification walls the Sumerians
  • 00:00:41
    already built a 100 mile long wall in
  • 00:00:44
    the 21st century BC 4,000 years ago even
  • 00:00:48
    the Persians built a wall around the 5th
  • 00:00:51
    Century ad which stretched for over 120
  • 00:00:54
    M or 200 km which came to be known as
  • 00:00:57
    The Great Wall of Gorgon I'm sure there
  • 00:01:00
    are many more examples of impressive
  • 00:01:02
    fortification walls from Antiquity but
  • 00:01:05
    listing them all would probably take an
  • 00:01:07
    entire video and so it is no wonder that
  • 00:01:10
    the Romans too really like to build
  • 00:01:13
    Great Walls some of the most famous ones
  • 00:01:16
    are probably Hadrian's Wall in Northern
  • 00:01:18
    Britain built on orders of Emperor
  • 00:01:20
    hadrien from 122 ad onwards and there is
  • 00:01:24
    also the Lesser known antonine wall
  • 00:01:27
    begun on orders of emperor antoninus in
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    ad42 then there is also the Roman lemus
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    in today's Southwestern Germany which
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    was strictly speaking not a wall but a
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    series of ditches ramparts wall sections
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    watchtowers and legionary forts
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    stretching over a length of about 180 km
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    and of course the Romans built very
  • 00:01:51
    impressive City walls such as the
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    imposing aelan walls of Rome that are
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    still standing to this day in many parts
  • 00:01:59
    of the City and of course the almost
  • 00:02:02
    impregnable theodosian walls of
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    Constantinople which had made
  • 00:02:07
    Constantinople an incredible ballark of
  • 00:02:10
    a city thus allowing it to be
  • 00:02:12
    successfully defended against many
  • 00:02:15
    Invaders but a Roman fortification wall
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    that has been almost completely
  • 00:02:19
    forgotten is the anastasian
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    wall if you happen to be in turkey and
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    you drive about 65 km or 4 4 m to the
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    west of Istanbul then you will find
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    especially towards the Black Sea Coast
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    quite well preserved remnant of a wall
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    which must have been quite impressive in
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    its prime in its Zenith this wall
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    boasted a total length of 56 km or 35 Mi
  • 00:02:49
    had a thickness of 3.3 M or 11 ft and a
  • 00:02:53
    height of an average 5 m or 16 ft to put
  • 00:02:57
    this into perspective this was about
  • 00:02:59
    half the length of Hadrian's Wall but it
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    was 1 M or 3 ft thicker and over 1 M or
  • 00:03:06
    3 ft taller than Hadrian's Wall
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    according to procopius it took 2 days to
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    travel from one end of the anastasian
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    wall to the other on its top was a
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    continuous walkway equipped on both
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    sides with battlements serving as
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    parapets in front of the wall a ditch
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    was dug on the enemy side as an obstacle
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    to approaching forces like the older
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    City walls of Constantinople the wall
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    had Towers placed in regular intervals
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    and these towers had either a
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    rectangular or a pentagonal base the
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    structure itself was built with
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    regularly arranged layers of bricks and
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    stones small fortresses were spaced 3.5
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    km apart along the length of the entire
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    wall and housed the guard units in the
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    central sector of the wall was also a
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    large Fort measuring 250X 300 M so we
  • 00:04:06
    are talking about a quite formidable
  • 00:04:08
    fortification wall which could rival
  • 00:04:10
    even the most impressive walls which the
  • 00:04:12
    Romans had built in their Prime and now
  • 00:04:16
    to something different the spqr shop
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    they make amazing Rings amazing pendants
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    attributes Terra cotas coin replicas
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    they make a lot of wonderful replicas of
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    Roman items and it's all 100 100%
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    handcrafted let me tell you the level of
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    craftsmanship is absolutely incredible
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    you can even buy the one and only
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    mayanos ring and you can only get it on
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    the spqr shop but there are of course
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    many other rings and amazing items that
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    the spqr shop crafts with an incredible
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    attention to detail and with a code in
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    the description you will get a 20% I
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    repeat a 20% price reduction on every
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    purchase on the spqr shop so don't hesit
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    and buy something nice for you or
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    someone else as a present who also
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    happens to like Roman history thanks for
  • 00:05:07
    your attention and back to the
  • 00:05:11
    video but when was this wall built well
  • 00:05:14
    as the name implies most likely during
  • 00:05:17
    the reign of the emperor anastasius
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    I some even believe that sections of the
  • 00:05:23
    wall might have been built before that
  • 00:05:26
    in the Vita of St Daniel the stylight
  • 00:05:28
    from the time of emper Leo the as well
  • 00:05:31
    as in a fragment from the historical
  • 00:05:33
    work of the historian malos from the
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    late 5th Century there is also mention
  • 00:05:38
    of a long
  • 00:05:40
    wall however in Antiquity several such
  • 00:05:43
    structures existed much earlier such
  • 00:05:45
    just the famous defensive wall of the
  • 00:05:47
    harbor facilities of Athens in pus and
  • 00:05:51
    feron the galipoli peninsula was
  • 00:05:54
    protected from the mainland by a
  • 00:05:55
    defensive wall known as the konus wall
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    which was already constructed in the
  • 00:06:02
    late 6th Century BC under miltiades the
  • 00:06:06
    Elder it is likely that the references
  • 00:06:09
    in the vaita of Daniel and by malos
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    refer to this previously existing
  • 00:06:16
    structure Constantinople was attacked
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    and besieged several times in the fifth
  • 00:06:21
    century but outlying walls were not
  • 00:06:24
    mentioned by contemporary sources the
  • 00:06:28
    situation was different though around
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    the year 500 when the wall of anastasius
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    repeatedly played a crucial role in the
  • 00:06:36
    accounts of
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    chroniclers archaeological
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    investigations have clearly demonstrated
  • 00:06:42
    that this wall dates back to the time of
  • 00:06:45
    anastasius anastasius dissolved the
  • 00:06:48
    dicese of thce and placed the area
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    between the wall and Constantinople
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    under the authority of two vicari
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    officials of the Civil Administration
  • 00:06:58
    who were subordinate to the Pectus proro
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    orientis however the division of
  • 00:07:04
    oversight between the two vicari did not
  • 00:07:07
    prove successful in the long run as in
  • 00:07:10
    535 Justinian established the office of
  • 00:07:13
    a pror justinianus in thce thus ending
  • 00:07:17
    again the office of the two vicari not
  • 00:07:20
    long after it had been established by
  • 00:07:23
    anastasius additionally some fortresses
  • 00:07:25
    and cities on the Black Sea Coast and
  • 00:07:28
    the lower danu were rebuilt or
  • 00:07:30
    reinforced as mentioned by procopius of
  • 00:07:33
    kaisera in his work on
  • 00:07:37
    buildings due to its extraordinary
  • 00:07:39
    length it was according to procopius
  • 00:07:42
    very difficult to man the entire length
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    of the wall for this reason he praised
  • 00:07:48
    Emperor Justinian in his work for having
  • 00:07:50
    strengthened the guard forces
  • 00:07:52
    nevertheless the Proto bulgarians and
  • 00:07:55
    kgor managed to overcome it without much
  • 00:07:58
    effort in 54 and 559 respectively as the
  • 00:08:02
    Empire suffered from a chronic shortage
  • 00:08:04
    of trained soldiers especially after the
  • 00:08:08
    justinianic plague of 541 and following
  • 00:08:11
    years and in addition an earthquake in
  • 00:08:14
    557 had caused significant damage to the
  • 00:08:18
    wall despite the apparent haste in its
  • 00:08:21
    construction the walls execution meets
  • 00:08:24
    the usual quality standards for late
  • 00:08:27
    antique Roman fortifications as
  • 00:08:30
    evidenced by the inner side that had
  • 00:08:32
    been manufactured by very even
  • 00:08:35
    rectangular stone blocks in 558 it was
  • 00:08:40
    thanks to the masterful Strategic skill
  • 00:08:42
    of flavius belisarius that the emperor
  • 00:08:46
    was spared a catastrophic defeat when in
  • 00:08:49
    his last official act as a general he
  • 00:08:52
    saved the city of Constantinople from a
  • 00:08:55
    katri Invasion but unfortunately in this
  • 00:08:57
    Cur Invasion the n wall proved to be not
  • 00:09:01
    extremely effective because as we
  • 00:09:03
    mentioned before it had been damaged by
  • 00:09:05
    earthquakes in
  • 00:09:06
    557 so after this Justinian personally
  • 00:09:09
    traveled to Cumbria a town directly at
  • 00:09:12
    the southern end of the anastasian wall
  • 00:09:15
    in order to oversee the Reconstruction
  • 00:09:17
    of the long wall himself this indicates
  • 00:09:21
    that the wall held great importance for
  • 00:09:23
    him as the emperor was known to rarely
  • 00:09:25
    leave
  • 00:09:27
    Constantinople later from 500 77 to
  • 00:09:30
    619 attacks by the avars and slaves on
  • 00:09:34
    the wall were repeatedly repelled and in
  • 00:09:37
    the last video I talked about how the
  • 00:09:39
    excubitor under Emperor Maurice
  • 00:09:42
    heroically defended the wall against the
  • 00:09:44
    avars in
  • 00:09:46
    598 however in
  • 00:09:49
    626 the wall was overrun by the avars as
  • 00:09:53
    almost the entire Eastern Roman army
  • 00:09:56
    under Emperor hercus was on a campaign
  • 00:09:59
    against against the Persians this was
  • 00:10:01
    really unfortunate timing and we can
  • 00:10:04
    assume that in that year the wall was
  • 00:10:06
    minimally defended with very few guards
  • 00:10:09
    stationed there the avars then proceeded
  • 00:10:12
    and laid Siege to Constantinople but
  • 00:10:15
    were ultimately repelled with the
  • 00:10:17
    mobilization of all available forces
  • 00:10:21
    although the wall of Anastasia was
  • 00:10:22
    repeatedly mentioned in later sources
  • 00:10:25
    and apparently continued to be
  • 00:10:26
    maintained it seems to have played
  • 00:10:29
    little role in the defense of the
  • 00:10:31
    capital in the following decades so at
  • 00:10:34
    some point in the later 7th Century it
  • 00:10:37
    was finally abandoned as it proved to be
  • 00:10:40
    too ineffective overall and due to the
  • 00:10:43
    increasingly scarce resources of the
  • 00:10:45
    Empire no Personnel or funds could be
  • 00:10:48
    allocated for its upkeep so after the
  • 00:10:52
    8th Century the wall was increasingly
  • 00:10:55
    used as a quarry by the surrounding
  • 00:10:57
    population which sign significantly
  • 00:11:00
    accelerated its
  • 00:11:01
    Decay so this wall too like all other
  • 00:11:05
    great walls that had been built
  • 00:11:07
    throughout human history ultimately
  • 00:11:10
    proved ineffective in decisively
  • 00:11:12
    repelling incoming attacks over the
  • 00:11:14
    course of many centuries for as soon as
  • 00:11:17
    the empires that had built these walls
  • 00:11:20
    faced trouble elsewhere Manning and
  • 00:11:23
    upkeeping these walls would prove more
  • 00:11:26
    and more difficult and so foreign
  • 00:11:28
    Invaders were ultimately able to storm
  • 00:11:31
    them at some point and yet the
  • 00:11:33
    anastasian wall remains until this very
  • 00:11:37
    day a testament to the power and
  • 00:11:39
    Ingenuity of the Eastern Romans and
  • 00:11:42
    their impressive defensive abilities
  • 00:11:45
    rivaling in their scale and precision
  • 00:11:47
    even the construction works of the old
  • 00:11:49
    Romans centuries before
  • 00:11:52
    them if you like this video please
  • 00:11:55
    consider supporting this channel via
  • 00:11:57
    patreon or via a YouTube membership
  • 00:11:58
    because it is your support which makes
  • 00:12:01
    this channel possible and I would
  • 00:12:03
    especially like to thank our new Soul
  • 00:12:04
    invictor supporter Kyle how thank you so
  • 00:12:07
    much Kyle how for supporting this
  • 00:12:09
    channel in such a generous way I really
  • 00:12:12
    can thank you enough and I would also
  • 00:12:13
    like to thank our two new kisaw
  • 00:12:15
    supporters Frank daai and Jack Barry
  • 00:12:18
    thank you so much Frank daai and Jack
  • 00:12:20
    Barry for supporting my oranos I really
  • 00:12:23
    appreciate it a lot and if you want to
  • 00:12:24
    learn more about the excubitor and their
  • 00:12:27
    epic fight to defend the anastasian war
  • 00:12:29
    wall you can watch this video in the
  • 00:12:31
    upper right corner but if you want to
  • 00:12:33
    learn why the Eastern Roman Empire
  • 00:12:35
    survived so much longer than the Western
  • 00:12:37
    one you can watch the other video in the
  • 00:12:39
    lower right corner I say thanks again to
  • 00:12:42
    all friends of Roman history graas Tiago
  • 00:12:44
    and benal
Tags
  • Anastasian Wall
  • fortification
  • ancient history
  • Roman Empire
  • Constantinople
  • defense
  • Hadrian's Wall
  • Roman engineering