E08142
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Procopius
Procopius, Wars 5.18.35
Βέσσας δέ, ὃς ἐν πύλῃ τῇ καλουμένῃ Πραινεστίνῃ φυλακὴν ἔσχεν, ἄγγελον παρὰ Βελισάριον πέμψας ἐκέλευε λέγειν ἔχεσθαι πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων τὴν πόλιν, δι᾿ ἄλλης πύλης ἐμβεβληκότων ἣ ὑπὲρ ποταμὸν Τίβερίν ἐστι Παγκρατίου ἀνδρὸς ἁγίου ἐπώνυμος οὖσα.
'But Bessas, who took command of the guard at the gate called the Praenestine, sent a messenger to Belisarius with orders to say that the city was held by the enemy, who had broken in through another gate which is across the Tiber River and bears the name of Pancratius, a holy man.'
Text and translation: Dewing 1919, 180-181.
5.19.4
διὸ δὴ ἄλλας δύο τῆς πόλεως πύλας ἐνοχλεῖσθαι πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ξυνέβαινε, τήν τε Αὐρηλίαν (ἣ νῦν Πέτρου τοῦ τῶν Χριστοῦ ἀποστόλων κορυφαίου ἅτε που πλησίον κειμένου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι) καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ ποταμὸν Τίβεριν.
'So in this way two other gates came to be exposed to the attacks of the enemy, the Aurelian (which is now named after Peter, the chief of the Apostles of Christ, since he lies not far from there) and the Transtiburtine Gate.'
Text and translation: Dewing 1919, 184-5.
6.4.3
καὶ ὁ μὲν ξὺν τῷ Μουνδίλᾳ τῷ δορυφόρῳ καὶ ὀλίγοις ἱππεῦσι διὰ πύλης ἣ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι, νύκτωρ διῆλθε, λαθὼν τὸ τῶν πολεμίων στρατόπεδον ὅσπερ ἄγχιστα ὁδοῦ τῆς Ἀππίας ἐφύλασσεν.
'And he [Procopius], accompanied by Mundilas the guardsman and a few horsemen, passed out by night through the gate which bears the name of the Apostle Paul, eluding the enemy's camp which had been established very close to the Appian Way to keep guard over it.'
Text and translation: Dewing 1919, 318-319, lightly modified.
7.36.7
Χρόνου δὲ τῇ Ῥώμης πολιορκίᾳ τριβέντος πολλοῦ, τῶν τινὲς Ἰσαύρων, οἳ ἀμφὶ πύλην ἣ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι φυλακὴν εἶχον (ἅμα μὲν ἐπικαλοῦντες ἐνιαυτῶν πολλῶν οὐδὲν πρὸς βασιλέως σφίσι δεδόσθαι [...]), Τουτίλᾳ λαθραιότατα ἐς λόγους ἐλθόντες ὡμολογησαν τὴν πόλιν ἐνδώσειν [...]
'After the siege of Rome had continued for a long time, some of the Isaurians who were keeping guard at the gate which bears the name of Paul the Apostle—men nursing a grievance because for many years nothing had been paid them by the emperor [...]—very secretly opened negotiations with Totila and agreed to hand over the city [...]'
Text and translation: Dewing 1924, 4-5.
7.36.10
αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν Γότθων στρατὸν ἄγχιστα πύλης τῆς εἰρημένης, ἣ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι, λανθάνων τοὺς πολεμίους ἐν παρασκευῇ εἶχε.
'Meanwhile he himself [Totila] was holding the Gothic army in readiness close to the above-mentioned gate which bears the name of the Apostle Paul, unobserved by his enemy.'
Text and translation: Dewing 1924, 6-7.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Places Named after SaintGates, bridges and roads
Source
Procopius of Caesarea, (c. 500 – c. 560/561 AD) was a soldier and historian from the Roman province of Palaestina Prima. He accompanied the Roman general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). He wrote the Secret History, the Wars (or Histories), and On Buildings.The History of the Wars was written in the early 540s, updated by around 550. With its focus on military affairs, it contains only occasional references to the cult of saints.
Discussion
Procopius makes various references to gates in the walls of Rome known by the names of saints. The walls as they existed during the Gothic War had been built by the pagan emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275), and their gates had originally been known by purely secular names. As Rome became christianised, however, many gates came to be known by the names of churches or saints' shrines located nearby.Procopius refers on five occasions to gates named after saints: the first three references (5.18.35, 5.19.4 and 6.4.3) occur during his account of the Gothic siege of Rome in 537-8, and the last two (7.36.7 and 7.36.10) during his account of the Gothic siege of 549-50.
5.18.35
Procopius refers to the gate of Pancratius, which led from the Trastevere district onto the via Aurelia, exiting Rome to the west, and had previously been known as the Porta Aurelia. Its new name came from the shrine of the Roman martyr Pancratius (S00307) a short distance outside the gate.
5.19.4
Procopius refers to the gate ‘now named’ after St Peter (ἣ νῦν Πέτρου) after previously being called the Aurelian Gate. Note that this is not the Porta Aurelia mentioned in the previous passage. The gate mentioned here was in the riverside walls of Rome and led onto the Pons Aelius (the current Ponte Sant'Angelo), which crossed the Tiber just south of the tomb of Hadrian (present-day Castel Sant’Angelo), from which a colonnaded road led to St Peter’s basilica (see E08143). The gate was known as the Porta Aurelia because one of several roads with which it connected was the via Aurelia nova; it was also known as the Porta Cornelia (for clarification of the names, see Dey 2011, 180)
6.4.3, 7.36.7, and 7.36.10
In these passages Procopius mentions the gate of St Paul (in this case he never gives the previous name, Porta Ostiensis). This was the gate for the via Ostiensis, the main road leaving Rome to the south and the main link to its port, Ostia. Its association with Paul came from the large extramural shrine and basilica (the present-day S. Paolo fuori le mura) located on the via Ostiensis about 2.5 km outside the walls, on the traditional site of Paul's martyrdom (on which see also E08147)
Bibliography
Text and translation:Dewing, H.B., Procopius, vols. 3-4 (Loeb Classical Library; New York and London, 1919, 1924).
Further reading:
Dey, H.W., The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome, AD 271-855 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
David Lambert
21/11/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Παὐλος | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Πἐτρος | Certain | S00307 | Pancratius, martyr of Rome | Παγκρατἰος | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08142 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08142