After the middle of the 3rd century CE, barbarian tribes, known as the Heruli, attacked many areas of Greece. In 267 CE, arriving in Athens by sea, they set the city ablaze and caused extensive destruction. The occupation of the city did not last long, as the invaders were eventually repelled by the Athenians, and it is considered more likely that Roman military forces did not contribute to this outcome. As a consequence of the invasion and the general unrest of the period, a new wall was constructed to protect the city.
The new fortified enclosure, known as the Late Roman wall, was built a few years after the raid of the Heruli, during the reign of emperor Probus, and its construction must have been completed by 300 CE. The rebuilding of the wall dramatically altered the topography of the city, since a significant part of classical Athens, including the Ancient Agora – the political and commercial centre of the city for centuries – remained outside the walls. This led not only to the abandonment of the Agora but also to the dismantling of its buildings, as their architectural elements, readily available, were used in the fortifications. Additionally, part of their planning relied on the incorporation of sturdy walls from large public buildings in the Ancient Agora and the southern slope of the Acropolis.
Inside the Late Roman wall, the Acropolis and a small part of the city to its north were encompassed. The western part of the wall began from the northern retaining wall of the Propylaea and, following the Panathenaic Way, ended at the Stoa of Attalos, where it incorporated the western wall of its shops. The northern part of the wall incorporated the southern wall of Hadrian’s Library, and, moving eastwards to the area of the Diogeneion Gymnasium, it turned southwards, where it is believed to have ended at the northeast of the Acropolis rock. Its southern branch incorporated walls of several earlier buildings: the southern wall of the Herodeion, the arched wall of the Stoa of Eumenes and the retaining walls of the Theatre of Dionysus.
With the restructuring of the city’s fortification, the area included was much smaller than the total area of the town. The Roman Agora, where commercial activities had already been transferred by the time of Augustus, and Hadrian’s library, which housed the city’s administrative services, were within the walls. The Late Roman wall as well as the fortification of the Acropolis would have served as a refuge for the inhabitants outside the walls in the event of raids and external threats.
