File:The East Gate, Ancient Edessa (6974660670).jpg

The eastern gate of ancient Edessa was an important passageway, for it was both the beginning of one of the city's main streets and the starting point for the highway that led northeast across the Edessaios River to the Via Egnatia 0,6 km away. Via Egnatia was one of the great Roman military roads. Built 140-120 BC, it ran from Dyrrachium and Apollonia on the Adriatic coast to Constantinople. Milestones placed at the side of the road not only indicated the distances but also commemorated the names of the emperors in whose regions major road works were carried out. Another perimeter road ran outside the fortifications from the east to the south gate, at a distnace of 350 metres. An ancient cemetery has been identified alongside this road as well. The original gate was built with the wall, in the late 4th century BC. In the second half of the 3rd century AD, at a time when the city was threa-tened by Gothic raids, the entire fortification was repaired. The eastern gate was rebuilt at least partly using salvage material: the threshold stone came from an older building and funerary altars from the neighbouring graveyard form the side faces. The gate was preserved with minor repairs until the end of the 6th century, when the lower town began to be abandoned. In the Byzantine period a small building, now in a very poor state of repair, was erected over its ruins.