10. GATE /ARCH OF HADRIAN

Date of construction: 131-132 AD

Athens during Hadrian’ s rule

(1) Gate of Hadrian, (2) temple of Olympian Zeus, (3) Acropolis,(4) Odeion of Herodes Atticus, (5) Athenian Agora, (6) Roman Agora, (7) Library of Hadrian

Location

• Τhe Gate of Hadrian was built in the northwest corner of the enclosure of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

•The Gate is conserved in a very good condition. However, nowadays, the atmospheric pollution has caused damage: extensive discoloration of the stone and fading out of the inscriptions.

The Gate was constructed by the Athenians in honor of Hadrian, their benefactor, probable on Hadrian’s visit to Athens, in order to inaugurate the newly completed Temple of Olympian Zeus. As state the inscriptions on both sides of the Gate, the monument marks the boundary between the ancient

Athens, city of Theseus (Θησεύς) and the new Roman section of the city, the Hadrianoupolis (=city of Hadrian) or New Athens.

• This particular structure was not just a monumental gateway resembling a Roman triumphal arch. It spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens leading to the new Roman section built on the eastern side of the city that included also the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

•A Roman arch was a construction normally to commemorate an Emperor’s visit to a city and at the same time served the imperial propaganda and the idea of the Roman victory.

Hadrian’s Gate and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The new eastern roman section of Athens, which The Gate of Hadrian marks, included a

number of public buildings, luxury villas with mosaics, gymnasia, baths, not thoroughly excavated, since they lie under the center of modern

Athens (central main streets, Syntagma square and the National Garden)

Hadrian’s Gate is located 325m southeast of the Acropolis

Description•

• The Gate’s height is 18m, the width 13.5m and the depth 2.3m. It is made of Pentelic marble, from Mt. Pentelikon, 18.2km northeast of the Arch.•The arch was constructed without cement or mortar from solid marble, using clamps to connect the cut stones.•The single arched passageway of the lower level is 6.5m wide and was supported by pilasters on rectangular raised bases crowned with Corinthian capitals. •Similar, but taller, pilasters flank the outer corners of the lower level. The space between the outer pilasters and the arched opening was filled in with squared stones with drafted edges to emphasize the design.

Its design is symmetrical from front to back and side to side.

Description

• The central opening of the upper level was flanked by antae (pilasters forming the end of a projecting lateral wall) with engaged Corinthian half-columns that supported a projecting triangular pediment, which rested above the dentils, geison, and sima that joined to those of the two wings.

•The central opening of the upper level was originally closed off by a thin screen of stone, ca 7cm thick.

•The design of this central aediculum-like niche of the upper level is similar to the architecture of the scaenae frons and highly evocative of the representations of aediculae in wall painting of the 2nd Pompeian style.

•At the peak of the pediment, there was a small vegetal acroterion.

The scaenae frons of the Theater of Marcellus in Rome, 1st century BC.

Aediculae in wall-paintings in the villa of Fannius Synistor close to Pompeii

Corinthian capitals of the Arch’s upper level pilasters

The Gate of Hadrian in Ephesus (117 AD or 123 AD), which is considered to be the model for the Gate of Hadrian in Athens. The third level of this Gate bears certain similarities to the upper level of the Gate in Athens.

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Inscriptions

•Two inscriptions are carved on the architrave of the arch’s lower level, one centered over the arched opening on either side. •On the northwest side (towards the Acropolis), the inscription was: ΑΙΔ' ΕIΣΙΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ (This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus).•The inscription on the southeast side (facing the Temple of Olympian Zeus) was: ΑΙΔ' ΕIΣΙΝ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΟΥΧI ΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΠΟΛΙΣ (This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus).

Statues on the Gate?

•It has been proposed that there were statues positioned on top of the lower level, on either side of the central, aediculum-like, niche of the upper level, as was common for this architectural form. The statues are likely to have been those of Theseus and Hadrian whose names are mentioned on the inscriptions. •In opposition to these suggestions, others state that there is no evidence of the type of doweling needed to mount statuary on the top of the lower level and that the stone is far too roughly worked on the upper surface for statues to rest on it. 

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Very few roman triumphal arches are found in Greece. On the left the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki (beginning of the 4th century AD) which spanned the Via Egnatia. On the right the Arch of Titus in Rome (1st century AD). Τhe lower level of the Arch of Hadrian falls within the gamut of the architectural genre. Roman triumphal arches, however, typically have a massive, solid upper level, often filled with a dedicatory inscription and sculptural decoration. They typically supported major stone or bronze statuary, often including a quadriga (four-horse chariot) or something similar at the top centre.

Hadrian’s Gate in 1938

Later use

•In 1778 the Arch was incorporated in the eastern part of the Turkish fortification wall of Athens, known as the Haseki wall, when it became a gateway, known as the '‘princess’ gate'‘ or ''kamaroporta. 

Hadrian’s Gate by night

Evdokia Romanou, Stelios Fazakis, Irini Poliankou, Angeliki Papadopoulou, students/Alexandra Melista, teacher

Πειραματικό Λύκειο Αγ. Αναργύρων, Athens/1st Grade, 2009-2010