DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0214
The Later Fortifications.
[CHAP. II.
114
on reaching the southern end the road passed up into the Intermontium of the
Aventine, and then between the two forts now occupied by the churches respec-
tively of S. Balbina and S. Sabba, till it passed through the old gate Porta
Raudusculaiia, and then passing along the outside of the line of the Caracallan
aqueduct it reached the Porta Ardeatina, making a distance of . 2 millia passus.”
XV. Porta Ostiensis (S. Paolo).—The Porta Ostiensis must
have been in existence in the time of Pliny; the bank through
which the Via Ostiensis passes, and in which this gate was originally
made, is the enclosure of the Aventine made by Claudius. But the
gatehouse has been rebuilt in the fifth century, with the exception
of the inner wall, and the two gates in it, which are of older date,
and belonged to the two roads, one from the Salaria, the other from
the Palatine.
“This course, without doubt, followed the north-western side of the Palatine,
i.e. along the modern Via di S. Teodoro and Via de’ Fenili, crossing over the
Aventine past the church of S. Prisca and through the ancient Porta Navia. The
road was then direct to the Porta Ostiensis. The distance is 1 mille 350 passus.”
XVI. Porta Portuensis.—This gate was near the bank of the
Tiber on the southern side of the Trastevere, and the road to Porto
passed through it; it was one of the gates rebuilt by Honorius, and
the inscription of his time upon it has been preserved.
“There is little doubt one road, and that perhaps the most ancient into the
Trastevere, was across the Pons Sublicius. The course from the Forum Ro-
manum probably followed the Via di S. Teodoro, the Via di S. Giorgio in
Velabro, and the Via della Salara ; and then passing through the Porta Tri-
gemina it crossed the bridge, and taking the present road following the bank of
the Tiber, reached in a tolerably direct line the ancient Porta Portuensis (which
is some 300 passus beyond the modern Porta Portuensis), making a distance of .
1 mille 700 passus.”
XVII. Porta Janiculensis, now called S. Pancrazio, is nearly
on the highest point of the Janiculum, and was the gate from the
ancient fortress to the adjoining table-land, on the promontory of
which this fortress was placed. A gate in this position must have
existed from the date when the fortress was made in the time of the
Kings, but it had been probably more than once rebuilt, before it
was finally destroyed by the Goths. The present gate is modern,
and not exactly on the old site, as the present fortification is also
modern, and encloses the old one. The fortifications of the Tras-
tevere, as they now stand, are entirely the work of the Popes, and
chiefly of the seventeenth century, but within the line are consider-
able ruins of the old walls of the Janiculum fortress, and the walls
connecting it with the city.
[CHAP. II.
114
on reaching the southern end the road passed up into the Intermontium of the
Aventine, and then between the two forts now occupied by the churches respec-
tively of S. Balbina and S. Sabba, till it passed through the old gate Porta
Raudusculaiia, and then passing along the outside of the line of the Caracallan
aqueduct it reached the Porta Ardeatina, making a distance of . 2 millia passus.”
XV. Porta Ostiensis (S. Paolo).—The Porta Ostiensis must
have been in existence in the time of Pliny; the bank through
which the Via Ostiensis passes, and in which this gate was originally
made, is the enclosure of the Aventine made by Claudius. But the
gatehouse has been rebuilt in the fifth century, with the exception
of the inner wall, and the two gates in it, which are of older date,
and belonged to the two roads, one from the Salaria, the other from
the Palatine.
“This course, without doubt, followed the north-western side of the Palatine,
i.e. along the modern Via di S. Teodoro and Via de’ Fenili, crossing over the
Aventine past the church of S. Prisca and through the ancient Porta Navia. The
road was then direct to the Porta Ostiensis. The distance is 1 mille 350 passus.”
XVI. Porta Portuensis.—This gate was near the bank of the
Tiber on the southern side of the Trastevere, and the road to Porto
passed through it; it was one of the gates rebuilt by Honorius, and
the inscription of his time upon it has been preserved.
“There is little doubt one road, and that perhaps the most ancient into the
Trastevere, was across the Pons Sublicius. The course from the Forum Ro-
manum probably followed the Via di S. Teodoro, the Via di S. Giorgio in
Velabro, and the Via della Salara ; and then passing through the Porta Tri-
gemina it crossed the bridge, and taking the present road following the bank of
the Tiber, reached in a tolerably direct line the ancient Porta Portuensis (which
is some 300 passus beyond the modern Porta Portuensis), making a distance of .
1 mille 700 passus.”
XVII. Porta Janiculensis, now called S. Pancrazio, is nearly
on the highest point of the Janiculum, and was the gate from the
ancient fortress to the adjoining table-land, on the promontory of
which this fortress was placed. A gate in this position must have
existed from the date when the fortress was made in the time of the
Kings, but it had been probably more than once rebuilt, before it
was finally destroyed by the Goths. The present gate is modern,
and not exactly on the old site, as the present fortification is also
modern, and encloses the old one. The fortifications of the Tras-
tevere, as they now stand, are entirely the work of the Popes, and
chiefly of the seventeenth century, but within the line are consider-
able ruins of the old walls of the Janiculum fortress, and the walls
connecting it with the city.