PORTA
PORTA (
πύλη), the gate of a city,
citadel, or other open space enclosed by a wall, in contradistinction to
JANUA which was the door of a
house or any covered edifice. The word
πύλη
is often found in the plural, even when applied to a single gate, because it
consisted of two leaves (
Thuc. 2.4, &c.).
In tracing out the walls of an Italian city with the ceremony described under
POMERIUM the plough was
lifted and carried across the openings to be left for the gates. The number
and position of city gates in ancient Greece and Italy naturally varied
according to circumstances. The old Etruscan custom was to give three gates
to a walled city, dedicated to the three chief deities of the Etruscans: the
same custom may possibly be seen in the three gates of Roma Quadrata (
Plin. Nat. 3.66, where an alternative
tradition of four gates is mentioned): two of these were the Porta Mugonia
and Porta Romanula (Varro,
L. L. 5.164). The ancient walls of
Paestum, Sepianum, and Aosta enclose a square: in the centre of each of the
four walls was a gate; the arrangement, however, was obviously affected by
the nature of the ground, and the size of the city. Thus Megara had five
gates; Thebes seven; others, as Rome, many more.
The gates in ancient Greek walls were formed in various ways, showing
progressive art in building. We may give, from Reber (
Gesch. d.
Baukunst, 231), four distinct methods:--1. The simple straight
lintel, consisting of a long and massive block, as in the
“Lion” Gate of Mycenae (see woodcut on p. 185). 2. Stones
projecting one beyond another in a step form from each side, and so
gradually approaching till they can be topped by a flat lintel: an example
is afforded
[p. 2.467]by a gate at Phigalia. 3. A gable
shape, formed
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Gate at Phigalia.
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by two massive stones meeting in an angle, as shown in a gate at
Delos. 4. A refinement on
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Gate at Delos.
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No. 2, where the stones approach gradually, cut into shape, sometimes with a
slight curve, till they join at the apex: they sometimes begin their slope
from the ground, as in the gates of Missolonghi and Thoricos, shown by
Baumeister (
Denkm. Taf. xv.), or, in a more developed form,
they are straight in their lower part, as the gate of Ephesus. When the arch
was introduced
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Gate at Ephesus.
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[
ARCUS], the construction of the
gate itself varied only as regards its size: but there were many differences
and improvements as regards its defence. From early days the importance of
flanking bastions had been seen; these were at first simple projections of
the wall at right angles (see an example of the gate at Orchomenus in Guhl
and Koner, p. 64), from the summit of which the defenders could shoot, and
this developed into bastions formed by circular swellings of the wall on
each side of the gate, and thence into regular flanking towers, round or
square [
TURRIS], often with
additional defences, such as are shown in the gate of Posidonia, or Paestum
[
MURUS p. 186]. An additional
security to the entrance was given by a double gateway, having an outer and
inner gate with a space between. At Messene the space between was circular,
so that the wall at that part had the shape of a round tower pierced by two
opposite openings (see plan in Guhl and Koner, p. 65). This system of double
gates was very early, as in the second and third gateways of the fortress at
Tiryns (see Plan, Vol. I. p. 655); and it is instructive also in this early
fortress to see how the besiegers were exposed to fire when they forced one
gateway and passed round to the next. Care was taken here, and elsewhere,
that the right or unshielded side should be towards the wall in their
approach.
At Como, Verona, and other ancient cities of Lombardy, the gate contains two
passages close together, the one designed for carriages entering, and the
other for carriages leaving the city. The same provision is observed in the
magnificent ruin of a gate at Trèves. (See woodcut.) In other
instances we find only one gate for carriages, but a smaller one on each
side of it (
παραπυλίς, Heliodor. n viii. p.
394) for foot-passengers. Each of the fine gates which remain at Autun has
not only two carriage-ways, but exterior to them two sideways for
pedestrians. (Millin,
Voyage dans les Departemens,
&c., vol. i. ch. 22; Atlas, Pl. 18, figs. 3, 4.) Such sideways are
well seen in the Porta d'Ercolano of Pompeii, of which there is a woodcut in
Vol. 1. p. 384. When there were no sideways, one of the valves of the large
gate sometimes contained a wicket (
portula,
πυλίς:
ῥινοπύλη), large enough to admit a single person. The porter
opened it when any one wished to go in or out by night. (
Plb. 8.20,
24;
Liv. 25.9.)
The contrivances for fastening gates were in general the same as those used
for doors [
JANUA], but larger in
proportion. The wooden bar placed across them in the inside (
μοχλὸς) was kept in its position by the
following method. A hole, passing through it perpendicularly (
βαλανοδόκη, Aen. Tact. 18), admitted a
cylindrical piece of iron, called
βάλανος,
which also entered a hole in the gate, so that, until it was taken out, the
bar could not be removed either to the one side, or the other (
Thuc. 2.4;
Aristoph.
Wasps 200;
βεβαλάνωται,
Aves, 1159). Another piece of iron, fitted to
the
βάλανος and called
βαλανάγρα, was used to extract it (Aen. Tact.
l.c.). When the accomplices within, for want of
this key, the
βαλανάγρα, were unable to
remove the bar, they cut it through with a hatchet (
Thuc. 4.111;
Plb. 8.23,
24), or set it on fire (Aen. Tact. 19). [For the
portcullis, see
CATARACTA]
The gateway had commonly a chamber, either on one side or on both, which
served as the residence of the porter or guard. It was called
τυλών (
Plb. 8.20,
23,
24). Its
situation is shown in the following plan. (See woodcut.)
[p. 2.468]The Porta Ostiensis, the finest and best-preserved of the gates
in the Aurelian wall, affords an instance of the more elaborate
kind:--“The central part of the gate with its arched doorway is of
travertine, the outer arch is grooved, to receive a portcullis [CATABACTA], and from the inner and higher arch
two travertine corbels project, which received the upper pivots of the
doors, the lower ones being let into holes in a massive travertine
threshold. Above this stone archway is a battlemented wall of brickfaced
concrete, pierced with a row of 7 arched windows, opening into a gate
chamber with similar windows on the inside. On each side are two
brick-faced towers with semicircular projections on the outside.”
(Middleton,
Rome, p. 494.) In the gates of Como and Verona
the gatehouse is three stories high. At Trèves it was four
stories high in the flanks, although the four stories remain standing in one
of them only, as may be observed in the annexed woodcut. The length of this
building is 115 feet;
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Gate at Trèves.
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its depth 47 in the middle, 67 in the flanks; its greatest height,
92. All the four stories are ornamented in every direction with rows of
Tuscan columns. The gateways are each 14 feet wide. The entrance of each
appears to have been guarded, as at Pompeii, first by a portcullis, and then
by gates of wood and iron. [
CATARACTA] The barbican, between the double portcullis and the
pair of gates, was no doubt open to the sky, as in the gates of Pompeii. The
gate at Trèves was probably erected by Constantine. (Compare also
Guhl and Koner, 1.62, 2.48; Baumeister,
Denkm. 804; Reber,
Hist. of Ancient Art, 189, E. T.)
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
