Parker, John Henry: The archaeology of Rome (1,text): I. The primitive fortifications (Oxford [u.a.], 1874)

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Appcndix.

opposite bank, at the upper end of the Ripa Grande, and imme-
diately above the remains of the wooden bridge or Pons Sublicius,
the corbels remain ; three of them are perfect, and are carved into
gigantic lions’ heads n of Etruscan character, which are probably of
the time when the port was made °. The middle of the three cor-
bels has holes sunk on each side of it, but not carried through, pro-
bably to let in a wooden pole on which to fix a chain or ropes on
each side. In the outer corbels the hole is carried through, and is
large enough to admit a man’s arm, or a wooden pole. The corbels
are of hard stone, about three feet square. The bank of the river
just above the salt-works has always been called traditionally Porta
Leone, although no one knew the origin of the name.

n They are often under water, and in
the summer, when the water is low, had
long been so covered with brushwood
that they could not be seen from the
opposite bank of the river. They were
discovered by accident in February,
1866, by Mr. J. H. Parker, and his
photographer, Mr. Simelli, while grop-

ing their way along the bank in search
of a good point of view for the mouth
of the Cloaca Maxima, nearly opposite
to them. Mr. Simelli was obliged to
cut away the brushwood to get a photo-
graph of these corbels.
0 B.C. 195, A.U.C. 558; Livii Hist.,
xxxv. 10, 41.