The Carmental Gate, also known by its

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name as the Porta Carmentalis, was a double gate in the

Servian Walls The Servian Wall (; ) is an ancient Roman defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. The wall was built of volcanic tuff and was up to in height in places, wide at its base, long, and is believed to hav ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. It was named for a nearby shrine to the goddess or nymph

Carmenta In ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta (Greek) or Carmentis (Latin) was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation, specifically, the invention or adaptation of the Latin alphabet as well as the protect ...

, whose importance in early

Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

is also indicated by the assignment of one of the fifteen ''

flamines A (plural ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who served the importan ...

'' to her cult, and by the archaic festival in her honor, the Carmentalia. The shrine was to the right as one exited the gate. The gate's two arches seem to have been set at angles, and were known by separate names. It was unlucky to leave the city through the arch called Porta Scelerata ("Accursed Gate"), which was supposed to have been named for the military disaster at Cremera in 479 or 478 BC, since the 306 Fabii who died had departed through it. The Servian Walls, however, did not exist at that time. The accursed nature of the gate probably derives from the transport of corpses out of the city proper to funeral pyres on the

Campus Martius The Campus Martius (Latin for 'Field of Mars'; Italian: ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers ...

. The family tomb of the

Claudii The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius ...

was located outside the Carmental Gate. The other gate was the Porta Triumphalis. A

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

returning from his

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

could not enter through this gate unless he had been awarded a triumph. It therefore must have been routine to use the Porta Scelerata for entering, and the Triumphalis for exiting. Funeral processions reversed the normal direction of traffic flow for the Scelerata, as the triumphal procession did for the Triumphalis.

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

was accorded the special honor of having his funeral procession exit by the Triumphalis. The temples of Mater Matuta,

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

, Christopher Smith, "Worshipping Mater Matuta: Ritual and Context," in ''Religion in Archaic and Republican Rome and Italy: Evidence and Experience'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2000), p. 145. Juno Sospita, and Spes were located nearby, the later two at the Forum Olitorium, Rome's vegetable market. The Carmental Gate was rebuilt by

Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...

and topped with a sculpture group of a triumphal chariot drawn by elephants, to celebrate his campaign against the

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

and the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman Empire, north of the River Danube, and are mentioned in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. They were one of the most important members of th ...

. The gate is depicted in relief sculpture dating to the reign of

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

. It was eventually destroyed by order of the emperor

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

. The Vicus Iugarius forked just before reaching the Carmental Gate, with one branch passing through the

Forum Holitorium The Forum Holitorium or Olitorium (Latin for the "Market of the Vegetable Sellers"; ) is an archaeological area of Rome, Italy, on the slopes of the Capitoline Hill. It was located outside the Carmental Gate in the Campus Martius, crowded betwee ...

by making a right curve around the foot of the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

, and the other passing through the

Forum Boarium The Forum Boarium (, ) was the cattle market or '' forum venalium'' of ancient Rome. It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Rome () ...

to the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima on the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...

. The precise location of the Carmental Gate itself remains unclear, despite excavations in the area from the late 1930s onward.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

names the Carmental Gate as the point of entry for a ritual procession undertaken in 207 BC as part of an expiatory sacrifice for Juno. Two white cows were led from the Temple of Apollo through the gate and along the Vicus Iugarius to the Forum.Livy 27.37.11–15; J.J. Pollitt, ''The Art of Rome, C. 753 B.C.-A.D. 337: Sources and Documents'' (Cambridge University Press, 1983, originally published in 1966), p. 49.

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* {{coord, 41, 53, 29, N, 12, 28, 49, E, region:IT_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Gates in the Servian Wall