THE MONUMENTAL WAY AND THE ROMAN GATE

Continuing on your way towards the east past the church baths and a small fountain you will arrive at a monumental gate. Passing through one of the three arches you will emerge into the monumental way.

Excavations yielded evidence that in Roman times this road continued outside the gate and was lined with shops. Generally known as the .Domitian Gate on the strength of a small inscription on the monumental gate to the effect that it was built by the Emperor Dornitian in the second half of the 1st century, it is also sometimes known as thd Frontius Gate because its construction I coincided with Frontius' period of office as proconsul of Asia. The gate is flanked by defence towers in a fairly good state of preservation.

Beyond this point the remains of the city defence walls towards the north are in very poor condition.

As has been pointed out above, all the streets in the city intersect at right angles. In other words, this is an example of the "grid plan" associated with Hippodamos, the famous town-planner of the Hellenistic period.

The widest street in the city is the Monumental Way, a colonnaded street on each side of which one can still see the remains of houses and various other buildings.

The water channels of hewn stone running along each side of the street and branching off to right and left are still in a fairly good state of preservation. 

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