Porta Maggiore

Listen first. A tram rattles over its rails, brakes squeal, a bell rings twice. Above all that modern noise rise two enormous arches of pale, rough stone. The blocks look unfinished, almost raw, as if the builders walked away before the final polish. They did not. That rough surface was a deliberate choice. You are standing at Porta Maggiore, one of the most complete pieces of ancient Roman engineering still in daily use as a crossroads.

This structure did not begin life as a city gate. It began as a bridge for water. Under the Emperor Claudius, two great aqueducts were completed around AD 52. They were the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus, and they brought water from the hills east of Rome. At this spot, the water channels had to cross two important roads. So the engineers raised a monumental double arch to carry the water over the traffic below.

Look up toward the top of the monument. The tall upper section, called the attic, holds the water channels themselves. There are two of them, stacked one above the other. The lower channel carried the Aqua Claudia. The upper channel carried the Anio Novus. Water ran through this stone high above the heads of travellers, steadily, for centuries. It is a strange thought — a river in a box, flowing over a busy road.

Now look at the long inscriptions cut into that attic. There are three of them, one above another. The top one names Claudius and the completion of the aqueducts. The two below record later repairs by the emperors Vespasian and his son Titus, in the 70s and the early 80s. Each ruler wanted his name in stone. Even repair work, in ancient Rome, was a chance for public credit.

Here is the first detail many visitors miss. Run your eye over the surface of the piers and columns. The stone is a local limestone called travertine, and much of it is left rough, with bumps and chisel marks. This style is called rustication. It was a fashion closely linked to Claudius and his building projects. The emperor seems to have liked the look of raw strength. Some columns even look half-carved, as if still waiting for the sculptor.

For about two centuries, this was simply an aqueduct crossing. Then Rome felt threatened. In the 270s, the Emperor Aurelian began a huge new circuit of defensive walls around the city. His builders were practical. Instead of building a new gate here, they used the aqueduct arches as part of the wall. The water bridge became a doorway into Rome. Today you can still see the line of the Aurelian Walls running away from the monument.

In the early fifth century, under the Emperor Honorius, the walls were strengthened again. Towers and extra gate structures were added around the arches. For a very long time, those later additions hid much of the ancient monument. Then, in 1838, during the time of Pope Gregory the Sixteenth, workers removed the later fortifications. They wanted to show the original Roman arches. And behind the masonry, they found something nobody expected.

Walk to the area just outside the arches, and look for a strange, boxy tomb. This is the second surprise, and it is a good one. It is the tomb of a baker. His name was Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces, and he lived in the late first century before Christ. The inscription calls him a baker and a contractor — a man who probably supplied bread on a large scale. He was not a noble. He was a businessman, and he was proud of his trade.

The design of the tomb is unlike almost anything else in Rome. Look at the rows of round openings set into the stone. Many scholars think they represent the large vessels used for kneading dough, or measures used for grain. Near the top runs a carved frieze. It shows the stages of making bread, from grain to flour, from dough to loaves. It is one of the clearest pictures of ancient working life that survives anywhere.

Think about the timeline for a moment. This baker's tomb stood beside the road before the aqueduct arches were built. Then the arches rose beside it. Then the walls swallowed both. For more than a thousand years, the tomb sat hidden inside later stonework. That is why it survived so well. Rome often protects its past by accident, simply by building on top of it.

There is one more secret nearby, though you cannot see it from here. Not far from the gate, underground, lies an ancient chamber known as the Underground Basilica of Porta Maggiore. It was discovered in 1917, during work on the railway line. It dates to the first century AD and is decorated with fine white stucco. Its exact purpose is still debated. Visits are limited and usually need a reservation in advance.

Now turn around and take in the modern scene. Tram lines curve through and around the old arches. Cars, buses, and trains move in every direction. The railway into Termini, the main station, runs close by. In a way, nothing has changed. This was always a place of movement — roads below, water above, people passing through. The traffic is louder now, but the job of the site is the same.

Before you walk away, look once more at that rough travertine. Notice how the light catches the uneven surface, and how the shadows sit in every chisel mark. Then look down at the baker's round stone openings, quiet beside the road. An emperor's water bridge and a baker's grave, side by side. As you leave, listen again for the trams. They pass under Claudius's arches, just as the travellers did two thousand years ago.