Ancient Tongeren Defensive Wall

Ancient Tongeren Defensive Wall, a photo by Scerakor on Flickr.

In a previous post before the holidays I explained to you how Tongeren is so old, that it is a part of the "Most Ancient Towns in Europe Network". As well, two posts ago I showed you Ambiorix, who obviously, helps to date the town back to Roman rule. Usually though, when someone talks about towns in the 1st and 2nd century, they have nothing to physically show for it (maybe this is an entirely North American bias on my part as well ...). Not so with Tongeren. This wall here is smack dab in the middle of the city with a pathway leading on top of it. I wandered around it taking a few pictures during my stay there. A quick foray later into Wikipedia and I see this:

"Roman Tongeren quickly became one of the largest Gallo-Roman administrative and military towns in the 1st century. It suffered from a destructive fire during the Batavian siege in 70CE, which was part of the Batavian revolt. In the 2nd century, it erected a defensive wall, portions of which can still be seen today."

Yup, the wall shown above is within its 19th century of existence. Humbling.