ThePorta Naevia was a minor gateway inRome’sServian Wall.
Located inthe 12th Augustan region, according toMarcus Terentius Varro’s description the gate was almost certainly situated on the minor summit of theAventine Hill (Aventinus Minor), in between the churches ofSanta Balbina andSanta Sabina. TheVia Ardeatina emerged from this gate.[1]
According to an apocryphal story recounted by the 4th century historianFestus, this gate was supposedly named after agrove called Naevia that had once belonged to a man named Naevius. Over time the grove obtained an unsavoury reputation due to the criminals and homeless people who would frequent the area.[2]