DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0487
PORTA VETUS PALATII—PORTICUS ABSIDATA
419
the porta Triumphalis was built to take the place in the triumph which
previously was held by the porta Carmentalis ; and Makin in JRS
1921, 25-36.
Porta Vetus Palatii : see Porta Mugonia.
Porta Viminalis : a gate on the Viminal, in the middle of the Servian
agger (Strabo v. 234; Fest. 163, 376, 377; Frontinus, de aq. i. 19).
Some remains of it are still to be seen just north of the railway station.
The road which issued from it appears to have been of minor import-
ance and passed through the Aurelian wall by a postern south of the
Praetorian camp (BC 1876, 168-170; 1914, 80 ; PBS iii. 85-86 ; LF 17),
the so-called Porta Chiusa (q.v.).
Porticus : the Roman adaptation of the Greek στοά, varying more or less
in detail, but consisting in general of a covered colonnade formed by a
wall and one or more parallel rows of columns, or less frequently by
columns alone. There were two prevailing types, one enclosing a rect-
angular area, either open and laid out like a garden, or occupied by a
temple, and the second a long gallery bordering on a street. In either
case the porticus might be an independent structure, or attached to
adjacent buildings. In the gardens of the rich Romans even the driveways
seem to have been under such colonnades.
The earliest porticus known to us were built in 193 b.c. by two
members of the gens Aemilia, but the period of rapid development in
numbers and use began in the last century of the republic and continued
in the Augustan era (Stuart Jones, Companion 108-110). The earlier
porticus were devoted mainly to business purposes, but during the
empire they were intended primarily to provide places for walking and
lounging that should be sheltered from sun and wind. For this reason
the intercolumnar spaces were sometimes filled with glass or hedges of
box. Within the porticus or the apartments connected with them, were
collections of statuary, paintings, and works of art, as well as shops and
bazaars. A porticus took its name from its builder, its purpose, the
structure to which it was attached or of which it formed a part, or
sometimes from some famous statue or painting preserved within it (e.g.
Porticus Argonautarum).
The campus Martius was particularly well adapted to the development
of the porticus, and by the second century there were upwards of twelve
in Region IX, some of them of great size, and it was possible to walk
from the forum of Trajan to the pons Aelius under a continuous shelter
(Vitr. i. 3. 1 ; v. 9. 1-5 ; Ann. d. Inst. 1883, 5-22 ; DS iv. 586 ; LR 447 ;
Lanciani, Anc. Rome, 94).
Porticus Absidata : mentioned only in the Notitia (Reg. IV) and in the
Ordo Benedicti of the twelfth century1 (Urlichs 81 ; Jord. ii. 664). The
1 Lib. Cens. Fabre-Duchesne, ii. 148. Benedict is simply borrowing the name from the
Curiosum (Mitt. 1907, 429-430).
419
the porta Triumphalis was built to take the place in the triumph which
previously was held by the porta Carmentalis ; and Makin in JRS
1921, 25-36.
Porta Vetus Palatii : see Porta Mugonia.
Porta Viminalis : a gate on the Viminal, in the middle of the Servian
agger (Strabo v. 234; Fest. 163, 376, 377; Frontinus, de aq. i. 19).
Some remains of it are still to be seen just north of the railway station.
The road which issued from it appears to have been of minor import-
ance and passed through the Aurelian wall by a postern south of the
Praetorian camp (BC 1876, 168-170; 1914, 80 ; PBS iii. 85-86 ; LF 17),
the so-called Porta Chiusa (q.v.).
Porticus : the Roman adaptation of the Greek στοά, varying more or less
in detail, but consisting in general of a covered colonnade formed by a
wall and one or more parallel rows of columns, or less frequently by
columns alone. There were two prevailing types, one enclosing a rect-
angular area, either open and laid out like a garden, or occupied by a
temple, and the second a long gallery bordering on a street. In either
case the porticus might be an independent structure, or attached to
adjacent buildings. In the gardens of the rich Romans even the driveways
seem to have been under such colonnades.
The earliest porticus known to us were built in 193 b.c. by two
members of the gens Aemilia, but the period of rapid development in
numbers and use began in the last century of the republic and continued
in the Augustan era (Stuart Jones, Companion 108-110). The earlier
porticus were devoted mainly to business purposes, but during the
empire they were intended primarily to provide places for walking and
lounging that should be sheltered from sun and wind. For this reason
the intercolumnar spaces were sometimes filled with glass or hedges of
box. Within the porticus or the apartments connected with them, were
collections of statuary, paintings, and works of art, as well as shops and
bazaars. A porticus took its name from its builder, its purpose, the
structure to which it was attached or of which it formed a part, or
sometimes from some famous statue or painting preserved within it (e.g.
Porticus Argonautarum).
The campus Martius was particularly well adapted to the development
of the porticus, and by the second century there were upwards of twelve
in Region IX, some of them of great size, and it was possible to walk
from the forum of Trajan to the pons Aelius under a continuous shelter
(Vitr. i. 3. 1 ; v. 9. 1-5 ; Ann. d. Inst. 1883, 5-22 ; DS iv. 586 ; LR 447 ;
Lanciani, Anc. Rome, 94).
Porticus Absidata : mentioned only in the Notitia (Reg. IV) and in the
Ordo Benedicti of the twelfth century1 (Urlichs 81 ; Jord. ii. 664). The
1 Lib. Cens. Fabre-Duchesne, ii. 148. Benedict is simply borrowing the name from the
Curiosum (Mitt. 1907, 429-430).