The Porta Caelimontana or Celimontana was a gate in the

Servian Wall The Servian Wall ( la, Murus Servii Tullii; it, Mura Serviane) was an ancient Roman defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. The wall was built of volcanic tuff and was up to in height in places, wide ...

on the rise of the

Caelian Hill The Caelian Hill (; la, Collis Caelius; it, Celio ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill over ...

(''Caelius Mons'').

Use

The

Via Caelimontana Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * Via (moth), ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologie ...

ran from it; in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Roman tombs were discovered along its southern edge, some of which have disappeared.

History

The gate was rebuilt during the

principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

. According to an

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, the

Arch of Dolabella The Arch of Dolabella and Silanus (Latin, ''Arcus Dolabellae et Silani'') or Arch of Dolabella is an ancient Roman arch. It was built by senatorial decree in 10 AD by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and C. Junius Silanus. Arch The arch i ...

was built in the area in AD 10, during the

consulship A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

of Dolabella and Silanus, but there is disagreement over whether this arch was the reconstruction of the Porta Caelimontana. The arch was incorporated into the support structure for the branch aqueduct of the

Aqua Claudia Aqua Claudia ("the Claudian water") was an ancient Roman aqueduct that, like the Aqua Anio Novus, was begun by Emperor Caligula (37–41 AD) in 38 AD and finished by Emperor Claudius (41–54 AD) in 52 AD. Together with Aqua Anio Novus, Aqua ...

built during the reign of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

, it is presumed during the rebuilding program that followed the Great Fire of 64. During the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, the Porta Caelimontana was a toll gate.Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, ''Lessing's Laokoon'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1878), p. xii.

References

External links

*Map showing the Porta Caelimontana in Leonardo Benevolo, ''Historie de la ville'' (Editions Parenthèses, 1975, 2004), p. 9
online.
* {{Monuments of Rome Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Gates in the Servian Wall