City Gate Renovations in Roman Italy, 1st Century B.C.E. - 1st Century C.E.: Exploring the Cultural Conception and Physical Manifestation of the Urban Boundary.

Abstract

This thesis examines city gates during the first century B.C.E. and first century C.E. It addresses existing literature on city gates and fortifications and how the prevailing interpretation of such structures as primarily military architecture has led to a failure to recognise their important monumental value. It will also explore the lived experiences of Roman cities and interactions with city gates in order to explore their roles as key monuments, and urban artifacts, whose forms and meanings evolved over time. The study will investigate the role of city gates in Roman culture, highlighting the continued religious and cultural importance of the urban boundary in Roman society, and the literary and artistic uses of city gates. This will highlight the contrast between the Roman perception of city gates and their role in modern scholarship on Roman urbanism. The thesis will also offer detailed case studies of city gate renovations at Rome and Pompeii, exploring how the gates’ roles evolved over time and their relationship to the surrounding area. It will consider why, in times of relative peace, these gates were renovated and how their monumental forms and functions reflected the contemporary conception of Roman cities, in order to argue that the city gate was a key marker of the urban boundary; the importance of which persisted throughout this period despite seeming evidence to the contrary.