Could Ancient Rome has built a structure comparable to the Great Wall of China?

I think they had the means and knowledge to do so. I think they didn't have to as they used the great rivers as natural defences.

But definitely feasible, yes.
 
Probably Romans had enough of technical knowledge to build such but there wasn't any need for that. Hardian Wall in Scotland was enough in Britannia, Rhein and Danube already formed effective shield against Germans and small land area between great rivers was quiet well fortified. Against Parthia wall would had been useless and they wouldn't let Romans build that. In Africa Sahara was already good enough against Nomadic tribes.
 
Other than Hadrian's Wall, this is impossible. Not only it requires a huge amount of stones from quarries, you would have to round up slaves and willing workers to build that up. The distances involved would take a long time to construct.

300px-Imperium_Romanum_Germania.png

This is for your reference.
 
It's perhaps worth noting that Hadrian's Wall doesn't appear to have been designed to be impregnable. Rather as a way to funnel people to certain points.
 
Rome road network might be comparable. So does series of fort "limes" that scretch from Scotland to Arabia.

Note : Great Wall is rebuilt and rebuilt again through centuries, original Qin-Han wall might be a lot shorter, and not necessarily single structure, but series of forts and walls. And separated by lot of rivers and hills (which incorporated into defense).

Definition of "comparable" is needed for actual comparison. Did it have to be single building ? Connected to each other ? How long ?

Update : Most of Great Wall is built using local materials, wall near Beijing would be very different from wall in Western Desert.
 
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Other than Hadrian's Wall, this is impossible. Not only it requires a huge amount of stones from quarries, you would have to round up slaves and willing workers to build that up. The distances involved would take a long time to construct.
Which raises the follow-up question of why it was possible for the Roman-contemporary Chinese, even if,
as kholieken points out, that wall/line of forts was not THE Great Wall.
(Others claim that the Han dynasty wall was the longest version...)

Definition of "comparable" is needed for actual comparison. Did it have to be single building ? Connected to each other ? How long ?
Same materials?
 
I mean, the Romans already built the fortresses on the rivers on their borders - whilst some might think its a bit nuts, you COULD have it be a slow process to build intermediary watchtowers connected by walls - bit by bit. Like the precursor of the first Great Wall.

Then eventually ensure they're all connected. If built very close to the river, with a raised embankment/protected to prevent the river undercutting them, and you could have something similar, if not more effective - and something that when the Rhine would occasionally freeze, still protected against crossings.
 
It's perhaps worth noting that Hadrian's Wall doesn't appear to have been designed to be impregnable. Rather as a way to funnel people to certain points.
The Great Wall worked the same way I believe. It was supposed to funnel invaders and give China time to mobilize.
 
Han or Qin walls? sure. But i doubt they would be able to make walls comparable in size and scale to the Ming walls.
 
Perhaps the best way for this to occur is a Roman conquest of most of Germania up to the Elbe. From there, the wall spreads from the Elbe south toward the Danube. This would seal the valve from the region of modern Poland. Ultimately, the best defense for Rome is victory and unifaction of the vast central flat terrain north of the Alps and Pyrenees.
 
I mean, the Romans already built the fortresses on the rivers on their borders - whilst some might think its a bit nuts, you COULD have it be a slow process to build intermediary watchtowers connected by walls - bit by bit. Like the precursor of the first Great Wall.

Then eventually ensure they're all connected. If built very close to the river, with a raised embankment/protected to prevent the river undercutting them, and you could have something similar, if not more effective - and something that when the Rhine would occasionally freeze, still protected against crossings.

This seems the most feasible, all though im a little dubious of being right on the river. Water damage to the foundation would always be a pain, especially whenever it floods. If they really wanted to do it im sure the romans can pull it off with some feat of hydrolic engineering, but thats a massive and expensive project to solve a problem you unnecessarily imposed on yourself.
 
This seems the most feasible, all though im a little dubious of being right on the river. Water damage to the foundation would always be a pain, especially whenever it floods. If they really wanted to do it im sure the romans can pull it off with some feat of hydrolic engineering, but thats a massive and expensive project to solve a problem you unnecessarily imposed on yourself.

But you get my meaning though - close enough to the river that you can't camp there without being at risk of getting shot at.
 
Seems tough even with a longer surviving Roman Empire - the Chinese Great Wall as I understand is built along a reasonably ecological boundary where there's a fairly stable division between likely to be hostile East Asian steppe groups who are hard to bring permanently within the Chinese Empire and govern, and repeatedly stably pose a threat over a long time. I'm not sure that holds along any border the Romans faced in Europe (Germanic groups would probably always be more likely to shift to something that can be brought into the empire or otherwise bargained with), so it seems like there's not the same incentive to build and rebuild and reinforce over a long time scale.

That is, I don't think it's about engineering skills, or there be'd no problem, because the Chinese didn't have particularly sharper engineering or anything at any point that enabled them to build the wall (though their large population and tax base helped). It's more about the long term incentives and reasons that they'd have to do it.
 
Similar in terms of size and structure, most likely along its borders with Germania. Would this be something within their realm of feasibility?
Could a wall work in certain territories ? Would one in Roman North Africa and Asia Minir even be possible ? Balkans is also a hard terrain. The Hadrian and Limes walls were astounding constructions, they would be part of it. One should calculate the workforce and ressources for a project Llke this. One emperors Reign possibly mit enough. Also who would built this wall ? Roman legions not large enough. Maybe Foederates have to help out.out. the Walls have time before maintained and guarded constantly.
 
Other than Hadrian's Wall, this is impossible. Not only it requires a huge amount of stones from quarries, you would have to round up slaves and willing workers to build that up. The distances involved would take a long time to construct.

The Great Wall is mostly built of packed earth or brick, but generally they used whatever was local and convenient. The great imposing stone walls we think of as the "Great Wall" near Beijing aren't typical of the Wall's construction.

It would definitely be within the logistical capability of the Romans to build it but as noted, it would have been a pretty useless structure.
 
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