Site of the Porta Romana

"...But if another argument is required to prove that the names Roma and Romulus are derived from the aboriginal word Rumon or stream, here it is at hand. The gates of a town are not denominated from the town to which they belong, but from the place to which they lead. Thus some of the gates of Rome were named Tiburtina, Praenestina, and Ostiensis, because the roads issuing from them led respectively to Tibur, to Praeneste, and to Ostia. One of the gates of the early Alban settlement on the Palatine hill was called " Romana." It is evident that the name was given to the gate, not from the settlement itself, but because it led to the Rumon or river. And when the walls of the city were enlarged by Servius Tullius, the new gate leading to the river was likewise named Flumentana."

Ancient Rome
in the light of recent excavations

Author: Rodolfo Lanciani
Editor:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York
Published: 1890


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