Porta Augusta, Nimes: Overall view, showing four arches

Augustus gave the town (Latin: Nemausus) a ring of ramparts 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) long, reinforced by 14 towers, of which 2 gates remain today; the Porta Augusta and the Porte de France. There is an inscription of his gift of 16 BCE on the gate. The city had an estimated population of 60,000. The Porta Augusta was the eastern gate, where the Roman road Via Domitia coming from Ugernum (today Beaucaire) entered the city. The gate's two main carriageway arches remain, with foot passages either side, each with a niche for statues above it; originally there were twin projecting towers and an arcaded gallery above, as on the gates at Aosta and Autun.