with that of Paul Graindor in 1914, established it as belonging to the late Roman period, but scholarly opinion remains divided as to the precise date of its construction. The Beulé Gate is constructed, almost in its entirety, from marble spolia originating in the Choragic Monument of Nikias, a structure build to commemorate the Athenian choregos Nikias. Nikias constructed the monument, shortly after 320 BCE, in honour of his victory in the choregic competitions of that year. It was demolished at an uncertain date: the German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld suggested 161 CE, on the grounds of his belief that a foundation found underneath the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, constructed in that year, had originally belonged to the monument. The American architectural historian William Bell Dinsmoor alternatively suggested that the demolition may have dated to the late 3rd or early 4th centuries CE. An inscription found on a stone later reused in the Ottoman fortifications of the Acropolis preserves an inscription commemorating Flavius Septimius Marcellinus for having constructed "the gateway to the Acropolis, from his own resources." The inscription gives Marcellinus' rank as (), a title equivalent to the Latin and customarily used, after the early second century CE, to refer to men of senatorial rank. It also identifies him as a former (), an official who had presided over one of the great Panhellenic games. The inscription has been dated to the mid-4th century CE, after 325; it is generally, though not universally, assumed to be associated with the construction of the Beulé Gate. Other proposed dates for the gate include the reign of the Roman emperor Valerian ( CE) and the period around the sacking of Athens by the Heruli in 267 or 268 CE, either slightly before the sack or around ten years afterwards. The Beulé Gate shows architectural similarities, such as the use of alternating courses of differently coloured marble, with the Post-Herulian Wall, built around the Acropolis around two decades after the sack of 267 or 268. Sarah A. Rous has therefore suggested that the demolition of the Choragic Monument of Nicias, the construction of the Post-Herulian Wall and the building of the Beulé Gate were approximately contemporary. Judith Binder has suggested that the gate may have been constructed by Dexippus, the Athenian general who successfully defended the Acropolis against the Heruli during their invasion. Inscription The inscription visible on the entabulature was originally the dedicatory