It is Latin, meaning "at the gates, before [our] doors" . It is used when a situation is of imminent resolution, when an important moment is approaching. The origin is in the Carthaginian invasion under Hannibal of Rome during the third century BC. C. , when the senate demanded urgent defense measures because "Hannibal ad portas" (" "Hannibal is at the gates!" ) , seeing his army on the banks of the river Anio, about 5 kilometers from the Roman walls. Then the phrase remained as a catchphrase used by the senators whenever it was urgent to take a measure. See "Carthago delenda est" .
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