Prima Porta is a suburb of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 located 12 kilometres north of its center along the Via Flaminia

Via Flaminia

The Via Flaminia was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium and Campania and the Po Valley...

 and just a kilometre outside of the Grande Raccordo Anulare

Grande Raccordo Anulare

The GRA or Grande Raccordo Anulare is a toll-free, ring-shaped orbital motorway, 68,2 km in circumference that encircles Rome...

 highway. It is located on the right bank of the Tiber where the Via Tiberina leads away from the Via Flaminia and another road led off along the Cremera

Cremera

Cremera is a 36.7 km Italian stream in Lazio which runs past Sacrofano, Formello, and Campagnano di Roma before falling into the Tiber about 10 km north of Rome...

 to Veii

Veii

Veii was, in ancient times, an important Etrurian city NNW of Rome, Italy; its site lies in Isola Farnese, a village of Municipio XX, an administrative subdivision of the comune of Rome in the Province of Rome...

 (Latitude: 42.000992° - Longitude: 12.493380° ). The location was strategically important due to the iron-rich cliffs of red tuff

Tuff

Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...

 that approach the river at this point, the confluence of several roads, and its function as the north entry point to Rome.

The name Prima Porta (First Door) came from an arch of the aqueduct that brought water to the Villa of Livia

Villa of Livia

The villa of Livia was probably part of Livia Drusilla's dowry brought to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. It was named and famous for its breed of white chickens and for its laurel grove , which were given auspiciously omened origins by Suetonius...

, which formed over Via Flaminia a sort of gateway which travellers saw as the first indication of having reached Rome (Piperno).

One of the most famous statues

Augustus of Prima Porta

Augustus of Prima Porta is a 2.04m high marble statue of Augustus Caesar which was discovered on April 20, 1863, in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, near Rome. Augustus Caesar's wife, Livia Drusilla, retired to the villa after his death. The sculpture is now displayed in the Braccio Nuovo of...

 of the Divine Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 was found in the general area of Prima Porta in 1863.

Modern Prima Porta

In 1965, heavy rains made two near Tiber tributaries, which had no protective banks, to flood the area, generating infrastructural and economic damage. Water level was two meters high at some points.

Prima Porta houses, along the Via Flaminia, the biggest Rome's cemetery, Cimitero Flaminio, also known as Cimitero di Prima Porta.

The population of the XX Municipio, the administrative unit that includes Prima Porta, was 146,000 as of the census of June 7, 2001.

History

Prima Porta was one of the scenes of Constantine's victory over the army of Maxentius in 312 which ended with the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The battle is shown in the frieze of the Arch of Constantine

Arch of Constantine

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312...

 in Rome. A triumphal arch was also erected here.

The Villa of Livia

Nearby, the villa

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...

 of Livia Drusilla called Ad Gallinas Albas was probably part of Livia's dowry brought to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. It was named and famous for its breed of white chickens and for its laurel grove (Pliny's Natural History 15.136f), which were given auspiciously omened origins by Suetonius

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

 . The villa's site was rediscovered and explored as early as 1596, but it was not recognized as that of Livia until the nineteenth century . In 1863/4 a marble krater

Krater

A krater was a large vase used to mix wine and water in Ancient Greece.-Form and function:...

 carved in refined low relief was discovered at the site and 1867 the heroic marble statue of Augustus, the Augustus of Prima Porta, which is now in the Vatican (Braccio Nuovo). The magisterial Augustus is a marble copy of a bronze statue that celebrated the return in 20 BC of the military standards captured by the Parthians in 53 after the defeat of Crassus at Carrhae: a rich iconography plays out in the low reliefs that decorate his cuirass

Muscle cuirass

In classical antiquity, the muscle cuirass or heroic cuirass is a type of body armor cast to fit the wearer's torso and designed to mimic an idealized human physique. It first appears in late Archaic Greece and became widespread throughout the 5th– 4th centuries BC...

.

The villa occupied the height dominating the view down the Tiber valley to Rome; some of the walling that retained its terraces may still be seen (Piperno). Except for works of terracing—the gardens are currently being excavated—, all that can be seen today are three vaulted subterranean rooms, from the largest of which the fine fresco decor of an illusionistic garden view, where all the plants and trees flower and fruit at once, was removed to Rome; it has recently been reinstalled in the Palazzo Massimo, following cleaning and restoration. The vault above the fresco was covered with stucco reliefs of which only a few remains survive.

The villa was built and modified in four stages, the earliest of Republican

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 date, the latest of the time of Constantine the Great. In the nineteenth century the villa belonged to the convent of Santa Maria in Via Lata

Santa Maria in Via Lata

Santa Maria in Via Lata is a church on the Via del Corso , in Rome, Italy.-History:It is claimed that St. Paul spent two years here, in the crypt under the church, whilst under house arrest waiting for his trial. This conflicts with the tradition regarding San Paolo alla Regola...

; it may never have passed into private hands.

A new series of more meticulous modern excavations was initiated in 1970.