PORTA AURELIA (2)
mentioned by Procopius (
BG i. 19; cf. 23, 28) as
being known in his time as Porta S. Petri;
τὴν Αὐρηλίαν πύλην ἣν νῦν Πέτρου...ἁτε που πλησίον κειμένου, ἐπώνυμός ἐστι.. It is mentioned under
this name in DMH (403 A.D.) and also in Eins. I.1 ; 2.1 ; 8.1; 3.1.
It is now commonly (contrast De Rossi, Inscr.
Christ. ii. 38; 99. 7; 324. 6)
placed at the east end of the pons Aelius, on the left bank of the river
(Richter 72; HF iii); and Jord. (i. I. 378-390), who shares this view,
further identifies it with the porta Cornelia, holding that the passage
through the fortifications of the
MAUSOLEUM HADRIANI (q.v.) was not
viewed as a city gate at all; but in this he has not been generally followed.
He is, however, right in pointing out that it is incorrect, as Richter
and Lanciani (Mon.
L. i. 447) still do, to call it Porta S. Petri in Hadrianeo
(DMH) and that the two phrases should be divided. If, however, there
was only one Porta S. Petri, the inscriptions published by De Rossi
would have belonged to the gate on the left bank of the river. It occurs
in the form Porta Aurea in Magister Gregorius (
JRS 1919, 19, 46), in the
Mirabilia and in
LPD i. 152. See also T ix. 472;
JRS 1925, 81, n. 2.
