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View looking northwest at the Porta Maggiore ("the Great Gate") and the Tomb of the Baker in front of it. Note the two tall arched entranceways and the three gabled openings of white travertine stone.
The large white rectangular projecting piece above the arches and gables contains two aqueducts: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. On the exterior of this projection there are three horizontal inscriptions that state that the gate was constructed by the Emperor Claudius (r. A.D. 41–54) and that both Vespasian (r. 69–79) and his son Titus (r. 79–81) repaired it.
The red brick "walls" on both sides of the gate supported the aqueducts on top of them, but the aqueducts have disappeared.
In front of the gate is the tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces that was constructed BEFORE the gate was constructed—around 30 B.C. Eurysaces was a freed slave who started a bakery and became very very rich! (His tomb is described in the following pictures)
