Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/780

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EOMA. be that, if the Via Tiburtiiia always issued from the Porta is. Lorenzo, we have no road to assign to the now closed gate adjoining the Praetorian camp, nor yet to the Porta Viininalis of the Servian walls, a circumstance certainly remarkable, as it seems un- likely that such an opening should have been made in the agger without absolute necessity. On the other hand, the absence of all mention of that gate prior to the time of Strabo would lead one to suspect that it was not one of the principal outlets of the city ; and a passage from Ovid, quoted by M. Becker, certainly affords some presumption that the road from Tibur, in ancient times, actually entered the city by the Porta Esquilina {Fast. v. 684). This is, "in fact, the most important, perhaps the only important, point of the question; for if tiie change in the names had already taken place as early as the time of Procopius, which Niebulir himself seems disposed to acknowledge, it is hardly worth while to inquire whether the gates had borne the same appellations during the short interval from Honorius to Justinian" (Class. Mus. vol. iii. p. 369, soq.). Tiie Porta Tiburtina (5. Lorenzo) is built near an arch of the Aquae JIarcia, Tepula, and Julia, which here flow over one another in three different canals. The arch of the gate corresponds with that of the aqueduct, but the latter is encumbered with rubbish, and therefore appears very low, whilst the gate is built on the rubbish itself. As the in- scription on it appeared on several of the other gates, we shall here insert it : S.P.Q.R. Impp. DD. NN. invktissimis principibm Arcadia et Uonorio victoribus et triumphatoribus semper Angg. ob iii- stauratos urbis aeternae muros portas ac turres egestis iminensis ruderibtis ex suggestione V.C. et inlustris comitis et magistri utriusque militiae Fl. Stilichonis ad perpetuitaiem nominis eorum simu- lacra constittut curante Fl. Macrobio Longiniano V.C Praef. Urbi D. N. M. Q. eorum. In like maimer the magnificent double arch of the Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus, which flow over it, was converted into the Porta Praenestina (Maggiore'). The right arch, from the city side, is walled up, and concealed on the outside by the Honorian wall. Just beyond the gate is the curious tomb of ■Eurysaces, the baker, sculptured with the instru- OJ lOj ff O |^nv^^^.^|,'^ol^l'M^^l3^■^lJloI:^l'l;l^:lA^li^^;■l3Jlo^3v • :>nm . ^. TOJIB OF EURYSACES ROMA. ments of his trade, which was brought to light in 1838, by the pulling down of a tower which had been built over it in the middle ages. Over the closed Honorian arch was the same inscription as over the Porta Tiburtina. On the aqueduct are three inscriptions, which name Claudius as its builder, and Vespasian and Titus as its restorers. The gate had several names in the middle ages. Hence the wall follows for some distance the line of the Aqua Claudia, till it reaches its easternmost point ; when, turning to the S. and W., and em- bracing the curve of what is commonly called the Amphitheatrum Castrense, it reaches the ancient Porta Asinauia, now replaced by the Porta dl S. Giovanni, built a little to the E. of it in 1574, by Pope Gregory XHI. It derived its name from spanning the Via Asinaria (Festus, p. 282, Miill.), and is frequently mentioned by Procopius. (B. G. i. 14, iii. 20, &c.) In the middle ages it was called Lateranensis from the neighbouring palace of the Lateran. After this gate we find another mentioned, which has entirely vanished. The earliest notice of it appears in an epistle of Gregory the Great (is. 69), by whom it is called Porta Metronis; whilst by Martinus Polonus it is styled Porta Metroni or Metronii, and by the Anonymous, Metrovia. (Nibby, Mura, 4'C. p. 365.) It was probably at or near the point where the Marrana (Aqua Crabra) now flows into the town. (Nibby, I. c. ; Piale, Poi-ie Merid. p. 11.) The two next gates were the Porta Latina and Porta Apita, standing over the roads of those names, which, as we have before said, diverged from one another at a little distance outside the Porta Capena, for which, therefore, these gates were sub- stitutes. The Porta Latina is now walled up, and the road to Tusculum {Frascati) leads out of the Porta S. Giovanni The Porta Appia, which still retained its name during the middle ages, but is now called Porta di S. Sebastiano, from the church situated outside of it, is one of the most considerable of the gates, from the height of its towers, though the arch is not of fine proportions. Nibby considers it to be posterior to the Gothic War, and of Byzantine architecture, from the Greek inscriptions and the Greek cross on the key-stone of the arch. {Muru, (fc. p. 370.) A little within it stands the so- called arch of Drusus. A little farther in the line of wall to the W. stands an arched gate of brick, ornamented with half co- lumns, and having a heavy architrave. The Via Ardeatina (Fest. p. 282, Miill.) proceeded through ' it, which issued from the Porta Raudusculana of the Servian walls. (Nibby, p. 201, seq.) We do not find this gate named in any author, and it was probably walled up at a very early period. The last gate on this side is the Porta Ostiensis, now called Porta di S. Paolo, from the celebrated basilica about a mile outside of it, now in course of reconstruction in the most splendid manner. The anci-ent name is men- tioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 4), but that of S. Pauli appears as early as the sixth centuiy. (Procop. B. G. iii. 36.) It had two arches, of which the second, though walled up, is still visible from the side of the town, though hidden from without by a tower built before it. Close to it is the ])yramid, or tomb, of Cestius, one of the few monu- ments of the Republic. It is built into the wall. From this point the walls ran to the river, inclosing Monte Testaccio, and then northwards along its