Porta Pandana

Gate on the S corner of the *Area Capitolina above the *Porta Carmentalis (Richardson, Platner–Ashby, Coarelli). The Porta Pandana, originally called the porta Saturnia, was a gate on the *Capitol (Varro, Ling. 5.42: Saturnia porta ... quam nunc vocant Pandanam; Solin. 1.12-13). It was so called ‘because it was always open’ (quod semper pateret: Festus 246; cf. 496). Such were the terms of an agreement forced on Rome either by the Sabines (Festus 496) or by the Gauls (Polyaenus, Strat. 8.25.1). Several indications in the literary sources strongly suggest that the Porta Pandana stood on the S tip of the Capitol, overlooking the Porta Carmentalis. Polyaenus puts the gate ‘on an inaccessible cliff’ (ἐπὶ πέτρας ἀπροσβάτου: Strat. 8.25.1), a description consistent with the steep S slopes of the Capitol. In the text of Solinus, the Porta Carmentalis is mentioned immediately following the Porta Pandana (Solin. 1.13). Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates an episode in which Sabine forces occupied the Capitol, entering via the ‘open gate’ (διὰ τῶν ἀκλείστων πυλῶν); he then explains that this gate which was always open stood on the Capitol and that it was called the Porta Carmentalis (Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. 10.14.2). This last detail is incorrect; the Porta Carmentalis stood in the *Forum Holitorium (but note Rodríguez Almeida, who posits an original Porta Carmentalis on the Capitol). Perhaps Dionysius of Halicarnassus confused the two names because the Porta Pandana and the Porta Carmentalis stood in close proximity. Thus Richardson suggests that the Porta Carmentalis was the point from which the Sabines began their ascent to the open gate; he adds that the Gauls also began their assault on the Capitol here (Livy 5.47.2; Plut., Cam. 25.2-3). Nothing remains of the Porta Pandana in the archaeological record, but a fragment of the Severan Marble Plan (Rodríguez Almeida, Forma pl. 23, frag. 31 a,b,c) shows the likely position of the Porta Pandana at the top of a series of ramped steps (s.v. *Capitolium: Marble Plan Steps). Addendum D. Filippi, “L‘arx Capitolina e le primae Capitolinae arcis fores di Tacito (Hist. III.71),” BullCom<a class="" href="http://example.com/new.php?page=BullCom">?</a> 99 (1998) 73-84 (80: places gate near the Temple of *Saturn, not at S corner of the Area Capitolina.