Polygonal walls in Lazio
The Acropolis at Alatri 
Several small historic towns in south-west Lazio
are well worth a visit for their massive and ancient fortifications
featuring
cyclopean walls. By Aniko Horvath The little-known fortified towns of Alatri, Arpino, Atina, Ferentino,
Norma, Cori, San Felice Circeo, Trevi and Pescorocchiano are
off the beaten tourist track, but all offer significant points
of archaeological interest thanks to their fortifications made
of cyclopean or polygonal walls.
The fortifications are made of huge blocks of largely unworked
limestone, some weighing as much as 20 tons, roughly fitted together
with minimal clearance between adjacent blocks and no use of
mortar. Between these boulders, smaller hunks of limestone fill
the interstices.The term “cyclopean” comes from the
classical Greeks' belief that only the mythical Cyclops had the
strength to move the enormous boulders that made up the walls
of Mycenae and Tiryns.
The most magnificent and best preserved example of these polygonal
walls is at Alatri, a town of some 30,000 inhabitants around
100 km south of Rome. The town is said to have been founded in
1830 BC as Alatrium (mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo).
Alatri is surrounded by a great belt of cyclopean walls (6th
century BC) that enclose the superb trapezoid Pelasgian (pre-Hellenian)
acropolis, the walls of which are almost intact. The outer circle
of walls, about 4 km long, supplemented at intervals by fine
medieval towers, is penetrated by three massive gateways.
Mystery surrounds the origins of the megalithic acropolis. Some
maintain that the alignment of the building was dictated by astronomical
considerations, adding that viewed from above the perimeter walls
are a perfect copy of the Gemini constellation at the summer
solstice. The historian Osvaldo Rea, however, says the construction
of the acropolis conforms with the principle of the golden section
or divine proportion, emphasising its orientation towards the
east and sunrise.
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