ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AND PORTA ARGENTARIORUM

Arch of Constantine - click to enlarge

Next to the church of San Giorgio al Velabro is the Arch improperly named Janus, from Ianua that means door; that's probably the Arch of Divo (= god) Constantine, and since to Constantine the Great was dedicated the famous arch near the Coliseum, the Constantine named here, was to be his son, Constantine II.

On each side of the portico arch we see a series of 12 niches, a total of 48, that in the origin housed statues later lost.

Arch of Constantine - click to enlarge

The niches

In the Middle Ages, at the time of conflicts between the Roman nobles, the arch was fortified by the Frangipane family, who had also fortified the Colosseum and the Arch of Titus. It happened so that in 1800, when the medieval superstructures were demolished, by mistake was also demolished the crowning of the arch. Numerous inscriptions immured in the porch of San Giorgio in Velabro originate from the arch.

Leaning against the church of San Giorgio al Velabro is the Porta (= gate) Argentariorum, which was one of the entrances to the Forum Boario Square.

Porta Argentariorum - click to enlarge

The gate was built in 204 AD by the bankers (the Argentari), and the merchants of the Forum Boarium and dedicated to Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna and his sons Caracalla and Geta, but when Geta was killed in 214 by his brother Caracalla, his portrait was deleted from the gate.

So today in the inside of the gate door survive, to the right Septimiuo Severo and his wife Julia Domna, portrayed when making a sacrifice, and to the left Caracalla.

Porta Argentariorum - click to enlarge
Caracalla	Septimiuo Severo and Julia Domna

The gate decoration is extraordinary refined as befitted the clients bankers.

Porta Argentariorum - click to enlarge
The gate decoration

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