PORTA ESQUILINA
a gate in the Servian wall, on the Esquiline, at the south
end of the agger (Liv. ii. II. 5;
Dionys. ix. 68;
Flor. ii. 9. 6; App.
BC
i. 58; Censorin. d. d. nat. 17. 8;
Frontinus i. 21). It is mentioned several
times in ancient literature (Liv. pass.; Cic. pro Clu. 37 ; de orat. ii. 276;
in Pis. 55, 61, 74; Tac.
Ann. ii. 32). According to Strabo (v. 234) the
via Labicana and the via Praenestina began at this gate (
ἡ Λαβικανὴ ἀρχομένη μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ᾿Ησκυλίνης πύλης, ἀφ̓ ἧς καὶ ἡ Πραινεστινή, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δ̓ ἀφεῖσα καὶ ταύτην καὶ τὸ πεδίον τὸ ᾿Ησκυλῖνον. The
divergence of the two roads, however, took place only just before the
Porta Praenestina of the Aurelian wall (
PBS i. 150, n. I). The porta
Esquilina itself, the site of which is marked by the existing
ARCUS
GALLIENI (q.v.), had probably been removed by the end of the republic
(Jord. i. I. 221-222;
RE v. 683; for excavations on this site, see
BC 1875, 191, pl. xx). It is probable that the
VIA TIBURTINA (q.v.) also
issued from this gate (
PBS iii. 86).
