South Gate of the Agora (Ephesus)

The South Gate of the Commercial Agora at Ephesus, better known as the Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates, is a triple-arched monumental entrance standing beside the Library of Celsus. Latin inscriptions on the structure record that it was built around 4-3 BC by two former slaves, Mazaeus and Mithridates, who had been freed from the household of the emperor Augustus. In gratitude for their freedom and prosperity, the two men funded the gate and dedicated it in bronze lettering to Augustus, his wife Livia, his daughter Julia and his son-in-law Agrippa. Its design deliberately echoes the form of a Roman triumphal arch, an honor normally reserved for victorious generals, repurposed here as a private expression of thanks from freedmen who had risen to wealth. Having collapsed over the centuries, the gate was carefully pieced back together by archaeologists, with its reconstruction finished in 1988, and it now stands as one of the most photographed monuments at the Ephesus site.