Porta San Paolo
.jpg)
The Porta San Paolo , known in antiquity as Porta Ostiensis , is a city gate of the Aurelian Wall in Rome . It is the starting point of Via Ostiensis (now Via Ostiense), one of the busiest streets in Rome that once led to Ostia . The Cestius pyramid is located near the Porta San Paolo .
The gate originally had two arched travertine passages flanked by two semicircular towers made of brickwork. The gate was originally part of an ensemble consisting of two gates, as two important traffic arteries left the city here. They testify to the importance and the traffic that connected Rome with the ancient port in Ostia. In 1888 one of the gates was torn down and only a description of Lanciani gives some information. The more important gate, the still preserved porta San Paolo , was redesigned under Honorius , the towers were raised. The gate was rebuilt for defense reasons. The outer goal area was demolished and replaced by a wall with only one passage, while the goal on the inside continued to consist of two arched passages. A gun chamber with six arched windows was installed above the central gate area. It is also possible that the changes were only initiated in the 6th century by Belisarius or Narses .
The massive, well-fortified complex was also called Castelletto in the Middle Ages . But already in the 6th century it got the name Porta San Paolo, because it formed the exit of the city to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls . As late as the fourth century, when the Circus Maximus , now certain in the Lateran located Obelisk be maneuvered carefully through the gate had to, she was under the name porta Ostiensis known.
literature
- Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 402 ( online ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Prokopios , bellum Goticum 2, 4, 3; 3, 36.
- ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 17, 4, 12.
Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ′ 36.2 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 53.4" E