Major Gate (Porta Maggiore) is one of the gates in the Aurelian Walls of Rome.
It is located at the point where eight of the eleven aqueducts that brought water to the city converged, in the area that, due to the proximity to the old temple dedicated in 477 BC. to the goddess Speranza (not to be confused with the more recent homonymous temple, inaugurated around 260 BC in the area of ??the Foro Olitorio), was called ad Spem Veterem.
The whole area in the vicinity is rich in ancient finds: small funeral monuments, columbarias, hypogea and, above all, an "underground basilica".
It was built under the emperor Claudius in 52 to allow the Claudius aqueduct to cross the Praenestina and Labicana streets that forked from the only road that came out of the Esquiline Gate, and therefore constituted a monumental portion of the aqueduct itself (as evidenced by the canals visible in the attic section).
It is made entirely of square travertine with rustic ashlar blocks (unfinished) according to the style of the time.
It is a large single structure with two arches, with windows on the pillars, inserted in aedicules with a tympanum and half-columns of the Corinthian order.
Major Gate
Address: Piazza di Porta Maggiore, 00182
Phone:
Site:
http://www.turismoroma.it/Location inserted by
CHO.earth