VIA PORTUENSIS
(Not. app.; Eins. 12. 4):
the road leading to the portus
Augusti constructed by Claudius on the right bank of the Tiber, at the
mouth. It started from the pons Aemilius, and the first part of its
course is identical with that of the via Campana. The
PORTA PORTUENSIS
(q.v.) of the Aurelian wall had a double arch, probably owing to the
amount of traffic it had to carry (see Mon.
Linc. xxvi. 417-430), but the
divergence occurred a good deal further on, probably a mile from the gate.
The via Portuensis went to the right into hilly country, while the via
Campana kept to the valley of the Tiber. The roads rejoined at the
modern Ponte Galera. See T. v. I-86.
With the growth of importance of the via Portuensis from the time
of Constantine onwards, that of the via Ostiensis correspondingly
decreased. It is to be noted that Procopius (
BG i. 26. 9-13), who calls
the road to Portus
ὁμαλήν τε καὶ ἐμπόδιον οὐδὲν ἔχουσαν, and tells us how
barges were dragged up the river by teams of oxen moving along it,
must be describing the towpath, and not either the via Portuensis or
even the via Campana, which is in many places at quite a considerable
distance from the winding course of the river.