Pompeii.
Porta Marina or Marine Gate.
Excavated 1861. Bombed in 1943.
Part 2 Part 1
Wider tunnel for goods and animals – north wall
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking from west end of north wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. May 2006. North wall of tunnel for larger goods and animals, at west end.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
North wall at west end of larger tunnel for goods and animals. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail from north wall at west end of larger tunnel for goods and animals. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii, Porta Marina, June 2017.
Looking towards north wall of gateway, with steps to pedestrian tunnel, on left. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along north wall of wider tunnel into gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking towards lava blocks on north side of wider tunnel of gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail of lava blocks on north side of wider tunnel of gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking west along north wall of wider tunnel towards lava blocks. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail of lava blocks on north side of wider tunnel of gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail from north wall of tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along north wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Looking west along north wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Looking towards north wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along north wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Wider tunnel for goods and animals – south wall
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
South wall at west end of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. May 2011. South side of gate. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
Pompeii Porta Marina. May 2006. South side of gate.
Pompeii Porta Marina. April 2019. South side of gate.
Niche on right hand side (south) where part of a terracotta statue of Minerva was found.
Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Mark Twain visited Pompeii in 1867. In his satirical account he describes entering Pompeii:
“We passed through the gate which faces the Mediterranean, (called the “Marine Gate,”) and by the rusty, broken image of Minerva, still keeping tireless watch and ward over the possessions it was powerless to save, and went up a long street and stood in the broad court of the Forum of Justice.”
See Twain M., 1869. The
Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrims Progress. Hartford,
CT: American Publishing Co., Chapter XXXI.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail of upper niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail of centre of niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail of lower niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Front of ceiling and upper niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail of upper niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail of rear north-west corner of niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail of rear north-east corner of niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Detail of flooring of ledge in centre of niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. December 2006. South side of gate.
Niche on right hand side where part of a terracotta statue of Minerva was found.
According to Van der Graaff –
“The Porta Marina preserves a large niche embedded in its southern
exterior bastion.
The niche is now devoid of embellishments, but a nineteenth-century
print indicates that it once featured a plaster coating similar to the niches
of the Porta Stabia.”
See Van der Graaff, I., 2019. The Fortifications of Pompeii and
Ancient Italy. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, (p. 209).
![Pompeii Porta Marina. 1880. South side of gate. Woodcut image by Von Rohden.
According to Von Rohden, the fragments of the statue of Minerva were found in the aedicula niche on the 3rd of April 1861.
See Von Rohden, H., 1880. Die Terracotten von Pompeji. Stuttgart: Spemann, p. 44, fig.24.
According to Van der Graaff, the Porta Marina preserves a large niche embedded in its southern exterior bastion. The niche is now devoid of embellishments, but a [this] nineteenth century print indicates that it once featured a plaster coating similar to the niches of the Porta Stabia.
See Van der Graaff, I., 2019. The Fortifications of Pompeii and Ancient Italy. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, p. 209.](Gate%20Marine%20p2_files/image035.jpg)
Pompeii Porta Marina. 1880. South side of gate. Woodcut image by Von Rohden.
According to Von Rohden, the fragments of the statue of Minerva were found in the aedicula niche on the 3rd of April 1861.
See Von Rohden, H., 1880. Die
Terracotten von Pompeji. Stuttgart:
Spemann, p. 44, fig.24.
Pompeii Porta Marina.
The largest fragment of the statue of Minerva in 2010. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. The fragments of the statue of Minerva in 2010. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
According to Van der Graaff –
“The excavation report of 1861 describes the recovery of three
large terracotta statue fragments and two smaller pieces of a hand associated
with the shrine. Hermann Von Rohden reunited the fragments in a drawing
published in 1880, but they subsequently vanished into obscurity and were considered
lost (Note 16). In the summer of 2010, some research and the aid of the site
director at Pompeii, Dott.ssa Grete Stefani, led to the discovery of the
fragments, which were stored in a corner of one of the storerooms in Pompeii.
Although somewhat battered, the pieces unmistakably join into the Von Rohden
reconstruction (see Plate 30). The figure stands on her left leg in a gentle
contrapposto pose with her right hand resting on her hip. She wears a
sleeveless chiton, and a chlamys draped over her right shoulder and arm. The
head is gone as is almost the entirety of her left side above the knee. A
stylized rock next to her left foot preserves the remnant of a shield that once
stood next to her leg, indicating that the statue represents the same Minerva
present at the other Pompeian gates. The fragmentary state makes any dating
based on stylistic grounds problematic. The niche in its current version is
almost certainly associated with postcolonial refurbishment of the gate (Note
17). However, given the continuity of cult recovered at the Porta Stabia, the
statue may be a relic of an earlier phase. The fact that excavators recovered
only about half of the statue indicates that already in antiquity it was an
important artifact. The context indicates that the statue broke at some point
before the eruption. Although broken and battered, the remaining pieces were
put back into place where they continued to evoke her presence.”
See Van der Graaff, I., 2019. The Fortifications of Pompeii and
Ancient Italy. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, (pp. 209-211, pl. 30, and Note 16
& 17).
Pompeii Porta Marina. 1880. Drawing by Von Rohden of terracotta statue of Minerva.
See Von Rohden, H.,
1880. Die Terracotten von
Pompeji. Stuttgart: Spemann, p. 44, Taf. XXXI.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
South wall on east side of arched niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. South wall. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along south wall of wider tunnel towards niche. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. December 2006. South wall of gate, west end.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Detail from south wall of tunnel for larger goods and animals. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. May 2006. South wall of tunnel for larger goods and animals.
Pompeii Porta Marina. December 2006. South wall of gate, west end.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking west along south wall of wider tunnel. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. May 2006.
Looking west out from gate for modern tourists, used in the past for larger goods, carts and animals.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along south wall of gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011. Looking west along south wall of wider tunnel under gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east along south wall of wider tunnel in gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2010. Detail from south wall at east end of gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. April 2019.
Looking east through tunnel under arch, into city. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Porta Marina, Pompeii.
2017/2018/2019. Looking east through Gate. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe
Ciaramella.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2011.
Looking east through tunnel under gate. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Looking east through tunnel under arch, into city. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. December 2019.
Looking east through tunnel under arch, into city. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.
Pompeii Porta Marina. December 2005. Looking east through tunnel, into city.
Pompeii Porta Marina. December 2005. Looking west from east end of gate tunnel.
Pompeii Porta Marina. March 2009. Looking out to west and modern entrance to Pompeii Scavi.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. May 2010. Looking out through gate to west. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.
Pompeii Porta Marina. March 2009. Looking out through gate to west.
Pompeii
Porta Marina, December 1968.
Looking
west from gateway. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Pompeii
Porta Marina, c.1920-1930’s.
Looking west from gateway. Photo courtesy
of Rick Bauer.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. June 1962. Exiting the site. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.
Porta Marina, Pompeii. 22nd July 1961.
Exiting west from Via Marina through the gate. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.