Rambles in Rome / An Archæological and Historical Guide to the Museums, Galleries, Villas, Churches, and Antiquities of Rome and the Campagna

by S. Russell Forbes

THE GATES,

Porta S. Giovanni, opening on to the Via Nova Appia, and near by, to the right, the walled-up ancient Porta Asinaria, best seen from the outside, through which Belisarius entered Rome, and which the Isaurian guard betrayed to Totila, December 17, 546. The open we are now rambling over was anciently called the Mirror. On the left is the end wall of the dining-hall of the ancient Palace of the Lateran, on which is a copy of an ancient mosaic of the time of Leo III. In a building behind this is the Scala Santa.