Both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire were dominant world powers in their existence. Despite highs and lows since it’s birth as a city upon the Palatine hill until its incorporation into the Kingdom of Italy under King Bersaglieri in 1870 the city was the home to much culture, history, and military power. After rises and falls, expansions and sacks, the city would make two seperate attempts to enwall the city and help defend it against the empire’s enemies. The latter of the two successful projects which would ultimately prove to be more useful and fortifying, the Aurelian walls are still present in modern day Rome in several areas of the city while the older Servian walls are still present only in limited areas. In this paper I…show more content… During the 2nd Punic War Hannibal invaded northern Italy across the Alps and defeated several Roman armies in the beginning stages of the war. Although the wall was never put to the test against Hannibal it may have deterred him as well, never coming closer than 3 miles from Rome. In 211 BC he brought his Carthaginian army close to the city in an attempted feint to draw the Roman army from southern Italy northward. Beginning to realize he would never be able to directly attack the capital Hannibal’s realized that his plan had failed. Not long after Hannibal’s arrival outside of Rome a group of Roman soldiers from the capital pitched a camp close to that of Hannibal’s to further encourage him to turn away, which he…show more content… This is the first time the city had been sacked since the Gauls successfully overtook the city in 387 BC which inspired the erection of the original Servian city walls. This was the first time in nearly 800 years that the city had fallen to an enemy, although it was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire which had recently been replaced by Ravenna, on the northeastern coast of Italy. This sacking of Rome would further ensure the city’s fall as a world power and would never quite reach it’s previous strength