DOI issue:
Ashby,T.: The classical Topography of the roman campagna. The via latina. Introduction
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70348#0029
Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna—III.
13
I.—The Via Latina up to the intersection with the Via Appia
Nuova (between the Second and Third Mile).
The Via Latina diverged from the Via Appia 830 metres outside the
Porta Capena (from which the mileage along it was measured), and after
500 metres more passed through the Porta Latina of the Aurelian Wall,
a well preserved gate (closed for the last time in 1827, Tomassetti, 23)
reconstructed by Honorius ; the arch of travertine voussoirs was built by
Belisarius or Narses, and the Christian monogram, between A and Ω, carved
on the keystone. For the mediaeval notices of the gate, cf. Tomassetti,
20 seq. The northernmost of the two round towers rests upon a foundation
of opus quadratum, belonging no doubt to a tomb. Pl. I, Fig. 1 gives a
view of it from the outside.
I shall not here attempt to deal with the discoveries which have been
made along the course of the road before it reaches the Porta Latina.
A general reference may be made to Tomassetti, 19η.; Lanciani, Ruins and
Excavations, 329 seq., Forma Urbis, 46; Jordan-Hiilsen, Topographic,
i. 3. 212.
Pier Leoni Ghezzi describes (Cod. Ottob. Vat. 3108, 183 ,184= Lanciani,
Bull. Com. 1882, 222, LX = Schreiber, Fundberichte des P.L. Ghezzi (in
Sdchische Berichte, 1892), p. 112, no. 4) an excavation made in the ‘ vigna
del Sig. Tursi fuori di Porta Latina cioe di fianco nel giorno 8 8bre 1726,’
which was, he adds, close to the road, not far from the Porta S. Sebastiano.
The site is, however, fixed as inside the gate (‘ cioe di fianco ’ being a
correction of ‘ fuori ’ according to Schreiber) by Ghezzi in his notes in the
Biblioteca Angelica (KK 15, 14), in which he gives the inscriptions C.I.L. vi.
5813-5817 as having been found ‘ nella cava che faceva fare Monsieur
Wencler (di Lipsia) prima di uscire la porta Latina andando a mano
dritta il primo portone che e la vignia del sr. Tuoti (Tuossi p. 36) [sic]
Cavalliggieri.' And this is probably the more accurate indication, and is
accepted by Lanciani (Forma Urbis, 46). It was made at the expense of
Monsieur Vender (i.e. Winckler, of Leipzig). The plan which Ghezzi
gives shows a staircase descending into the natural tufa, at the bottom
of which a corridor turns at right angles : this leads to a chamber, in
which was a shaft, and in it were found some vases of terra cotta full of
ashes of the dead, with many silver and bronze coins. Leading off from it
were two niches for bodies; one still contained the corpse, and with it were
13
I.—The Via Latina up to the intersection with the Via Appia
Nuova (between the Second and Third Mile).
The Via Latina diverged from the Via Appia 830 metres outside the
Porta Capena (from which the mileage along it was measured), and after
500 metres more passed through the Porta Latina of the Aurelian Wall,
a well preserved gate (closed for the last time in 1827, Tomassetti, 23)
reconstructed by Honorius ; the arch of travertine voussoirs was built by
Belisarius or Narses, and the Christian monogram, between A and Ω, carved
on the keystone. For the mediaeval notices of the gate, cf. Tomassetti,
20 seq. The northernmost of the two round towers rests upon a foundation
of opus quadratum, belonging no doubt to a tomb. Pl. I, Fig. 1 gives a
view of it from the outside.
I shall not here attempt to deal with the discoveries which have been
made along the course of the road before it reaches the Porta Latina.
A general reference may be made to Tomassetti, 19η.; Lanciani, Ruins and
Excavations, 329 seq., Forma Urbis, 46; Jordan-Hiilsen, Topographic,
i. 3. 212.
Pier Leoni Ghezzi describes (Cod. Ottob. Vat. 3108, 183 ,184= Lanciani,
Bull. Com. 1882, 222, LX = Schreiber, Fundberichte des P.L. Ghezzi (in
Sdchische Berichte, 1892), p. 112, no. 4) an excavation made in the ‘ vigna
del Sig. Tursi fuori di Porta Latina cioe di fianco nel giorno 8 8bre 1726,’
which was, he adds, close to the road, not far from the Porta S. Sebastiano.
The site is, however, fixed as inside the gate (‘ cioe di fianco ’ being a
correction of ‘ fuori ’ according to Schreiber) by Ghezzi in his notes in the
Biblioteca Angelica (KK 15, 14), in which he gives the inscriptions C.I.L. vi.
5813-5817 as having been found ‘ nella cava che faceva fare Monsieur
Wencler (di Lipsia) prima di uscire la porta Latina andando a mano
dritta il primo portone che e la vignia del sr. Tuoti (Tuossi p. 36) [sic]
Cavalliggieri.' And this is probably the more accurate indication, and is
accepted by Lanciani (Forma Urbis, 46). It was made at the expense of
Monsieur Vender (i.e. Winckler, of Leipzig). The plan which Ghezzi
gives shows a staircase descending into the natural tufa, at the bottom
of which a corridor turns at right angles : this leads to a chamber, in
which was a shaft, and in it were found some vases of terra cotta full of
ashes of the dead, with many silver and bronze coins. Leading off from it
were two niches for bodies; one still contained the corpse, and with it were