Nola Gate stands in the north-eastern sector of Pompeii’s walls and takes its name from the road that led towards the ancient city of Nola.
An inscription in the Oscan language, now held in the British Museum, attributes the construction of the gate to Vibius Popidius, an important magistrate of the Samnite period. The structure is dated to the 3rd century BC.
The gate is built of regularly laid tuff blocks and covered by a barrel vault. A head of Minerva is carved on the keystone of the inner arch, symbolically placing the entrance to the city under the goddess’s protection.
On the outer side, two bastions connected to the city walls. Their arrangement forced any attacker to pass through a narrow space, exposing the side of the body unprotected by the shield: an effective defensive design.
The two stretches of wall on either side of the gate retain different characteristics. The eastern section was partly rebuilt in the 1st century BC, while the opposite stretch preserves more of the earlier structure, with a limestone base and a tuff superstructure. Nola Gate was excavated in 1813.
View this location on the Pompeii Buildings and Places map