Porta Capena

Gate in the *Servian Wall from which the *Via Appia departed (Frontin., Aq. 5.1), situated by a natural depression between the *Caelian and the *Aventine (*Vallis: Via Appia, *Vallis: Circus Maximus; Richardson 301; Lanciani, FUR pl. 35). The gate is mentioned in connection with events as early as the years 484 B.C. (Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. 8.4.1: κατὰ μίαν ... πύλην τὴν καλουμένην Καπυΐνην) and 459 B.C. (Livy 3.22.4: extra portam Capenam). Parker and Gori’s excavations in 1867 identified the gate, which probably consisted of a single arch. Architectural fragments in tufa and travertine indicate the last century of the Republic as their terminus post quem (Säflund 146-47; Colini 32). The name of the gate may have derived from either the city of Capena (Servius, ad Aen. 7.697) or Capua (Schol. Juv. 3.11.1-2), or from the sanctuary of the *Camenae (Servius, loc. cit.) which was located in close proximity to the gate. Coarelli refutes all three alternatives to propose the city of Cabum on the mons Albanus, the original destination of the *Via Latina, as the etymological origin of Capena (325). The gate is identified with the arcus Stillans (Coarelli 325), the last arch of the rivus Herculaneus, a branch of the *Aqua Marcia crossing the Caelian above the Porta Capena (Frontin., Aq. 19.8-9). Further, the *Aqua Appia ran above the ground near the gate, which was hence described as moist or dripping (Juv. 3.11: madida).