Fig. 108.—Plan of a section of the city wall.
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For additional strength there was heaped against the inner wall an embankment of earth, which still remains on the north side, between the tenth and twelfth towers. At the right of the Herculaneum Gate the place of the embankment and of the inner wall was taken by a massive stairway (E in [Fig. 108]) leading to the top. Originally, the stairs extended east about 270 feet, but afterwards they were demolished for the greater part of the distance, and houses were built close to the wall. There is a smaller stairway of the same kind east of the Stabian Gate ([Fig. 111]).

In the original structure both outer and inner walls were built of hewn blocks of tufa and limestone; but we find portions of the outer wall, and all the towers, of lava rubble, the surface of which was covered with stucco. The towers were already standing, as shown by inscriptions, at the time of the Social War. We are therefore safe in believing that in the period of peace following the Second Punic War the walls were not kept in repair, some parts of the outer wall being utilized as a quarry for building stone; that with the advent of the Social War they were hastily repaired on the north, east, and south sides, and strengthened by towers, but that no attempt was made to renew the fortifications on the steep southwest side, between the Herculaneum Gate and the Forum Triangulare, where the line of the old wall was covered with buildings.

Fig. 109.—View of the city wall, inside, where the embankment has been removed. The door in the tower at the left marks the height of the embankment.

When the towers were added—probably not long before 90 B.C.—they were not distributed evenly along the wall, but were placed where they seemed to be most needed. The western portion of the ridge between the Herculaneum and Capua Gates was particularly favorable for the approach of an enemy; hence three towers were built near together here, numbered 10, 11, and 12 on [Plan I]. Another part of the wall especially exposed was on the southeast side, where the height covered by the city slopes gradually down to the plain; and we find five towers within a comparatively short distance, two east of the Amphitheatre, the other three further south. On the north side, between the Capua and Sarno gates, the slope is steeper and two towers were thought to be sufficient.

That there were once two additional towers, besides the ten that have been enumerated, is evident from several Oscan inscriptions, painted in red letters on the street walls of houses. One of them, near the southwest corner of the house of the Faun, reads thus: 'This way leads between Towers 10 and 11, where Titus Fisanius is in command.' The street referred to runs between the tenth and twelfth Insulae of Region VI, direct to the city wall. Two others refer to a 'Tower 12' near the Herculaneum Gate, this part of the fortifications being in charge of Maras Adirius.