Well preserved,[4] the walls commonly known as the walls of Diocletian and attributed to his reign, were more likely built by emperor Aurelian following his sack of the city in 273. The notion that Diocletian built those walls stem from the fact that his governor Sossianus Hierocles built the principia (headquarter of a Roman fort) of Palmyra. However, epigraphic and archaeological evidence suggest that Aurelian stationed the Legio I Illyricorum in the city, and it is implausible that the emperor left the city without protection.[3] The walls of Sossianus Hierocles’ structures are clearly attached to the city’s walls and were not an original part of them; hence, the traditionally called “Diocletian walls” date to an era earlier than that emperor’s reign.[5] The Aurelian walls left the southern parts of the city outside their limits.[2] They encircled the area which they were meant to protect and included square towers.[5]