Kultúrna percepcia mestských hradieb a brán v latinskej časti Rímskej ríše v cisárskom období (1. – 5. st.)
Cultural Perception of City Walls and Gates in the Latin Part of the Roman Empire during the Imperial Period. (1st – 5th century)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study is to identify the cultural perception of the city walls during the period of the Roman Empire (1st – 5th century) in the Latin West regions. In the observed period, city fortifications had different specifics in comparison with other periods and regions in the east. The first two centuries were characterized by confident imperial politics within their own colonies and the barbaric world. Thanks to their enormous military power, the Roman emperors were able to ensure peace and stability in all the provinces, and therefore the construction and maintenance of city walls did not have much of a defensive function. A special element in the Latin West region was the sacred perception of the walls, which formed a pomerium. In the 3rd to 5th century the defensive function of the walls increased, but at the same time a lot of resources were invested in their decoration, especially in Gaul. In this study, the cultural perception of defensive architecture in the Latin West region of the Roman Empire will be evaluated on the basis of an analysis of historical, artistic and material sources. The research is based on the assumption that the defensive function of the city walls may not have been the most important or the only one in some cases, and a symbolic function can be clearly identified, which could have been given priority in some cases. According to the preserved literary, archeological and artistic sources, it is possible to organize the perception of the city walls in the observed period into thematic groups. These groups are named according to the symbolism that the city walls may have implied: sanctity, beauty, monumentality, walls as a synonym of a city.

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