The Arch of Augustus ( la, arcus Octaviani, it, Arco di Augusto) was the

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cro ...

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, located in the Roman Forum. It spanned the

Via Sacra The Via Sacra (, "''Sacred Street''") was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum. The ro ...

, between the

Temple of Castor and Pollux The Temple of Castor and Pollux ( it, Tempio dei Dioscuri) is an ancient temple in the Roman Forum, Rome, central Italy. It was originally built in gratitude for victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus (495 BC). Castor and Pollux (Greek Polydeuces ...

and the Temple of Caesar, near the

Temple of Vesta The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin ''Aedes Vestae''; Italian: ''Tempio di Vesta''), is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. The temple is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta hou ...

, closing off the eastern end of the Forum. It can be regarded as the first permanent three-bayed arch ever built in Rome. The archaeological evidence shows the existence of a three-bayed arch measuring 17,75 x 5.25 meters between the Temple of Caesar and the Temple of Castor and Pollux, although only the

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

foundations of the structure remain. Ancient sources mention arches erected in honor of Augustus in the Forum on two occasions: the victory over Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC, and the recovery of the standards lost to the Parthians in 20 BC. Arch of Augustus Ruins

Actian Arch

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

reports that after the

Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between a maritime fleet of Octavian led by Marcus Agrippa and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopator. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, ...

the Senate granted Augustus a

triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

and an arch in an unspecified spot in the Forum. No contemporary description of the structure remains, although it is possible that the Actian Arch is represented on a coin minted in ca. 30–29 BC. However, the arch depicted on the coin could also refer to another instance in which Augustus was granted a triumphal arch after the

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

over

Sextus Pompey Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius ( 67 – 35 BC), also known in English as Sextus Pompey, was a Roman military leader who, throughout his life, upheld the cause of his father, Pompey the Great, against Julius Caesar and his supporters during the las ...

in 36 BC. The 13th century travel guide to Rome '' De mirabilibus urbis Romae'' describes it in detail, though there is no other evidence that the arch still existed by the time this was composed. He claims it is "Not far from this temple (the Pantheon)" and bears the following inscription "Because Augustus restored a conquered world to Roman rule, regaining it for the Republic, the Roman people erected this monument". It was supposedly "Multiple", "constructed of marble", and had a "stone platform, which projects outwards quite a distance" where "statues were placed of military commanders and those who had either distinguished themselves on campaign or fallen in the thick of battle", including a statue of Augustus himself. The arch described also had reliefs of the army, war, and the Battle of Actium wherein "Caesar, emerging from the struggle with a greater victory than he expected, pursues Cleopatra's fleeing galley." The arch may also have born reliefs of Augustus's triumph after this event, but the wording is unclear. A marble slab long 2.65 m. long and 0.59 m high bearing an inscription in honor of Augustus as savior and keeper of the Republic discovered in 1546 and subsequently lost was attributed to the Actian Arch.

Parthian Arch

Cassius Dio mentions an ''

ovatio The ovation ( la, ovatio from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, p ...

'' and another triumphal arch granted to Augustus after he recovered the eagles lost in the

Battle of Carrhae The Battle of Carrhae () was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the ancient town of Carrhae (present-day Harran, Turkey). An invading force of seven legions of Roman heavy infantry under Marcus Liciniu ...

and during Antony's

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

Atropatene Atropatene ( peo, Ātṛpātakāna; grc, Ἀτροπατηνή), also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian kingdom established in by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by A ...

without specifying its location. A Veronese

scholiast Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

commenting on

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

'' situates the structure next to the Temple of Caesar. The arch is not mentioned by Augustus in his autobiography; moreover, Suetonius and

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...

report that he refused to celebrate a triumph in 19 BC, leading some scholars to believe that the Parthian Arch might have been projected but never realized. Coins minted in Pergamon, Tarraco, and Rome in the years 19–16 BC show a three-bayed arch with a

quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...

on the top and figures holding bows and standards on the lower bays. Accordingly, th
proposed reconstructions
display a structure consisting of a higher central vaulted bay with

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

semi-columns and a triumphal chariot on top. The lower bays had square-topped pediments with Doric columns or semi-columns surmounted by statues of Parthians holding bows and the recovered eagles.Briar Rose, ''The Parthians in Augustan Rome'', pp. 30-32. The

Fasti Consulares In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

and the Fasti Triumphales, unearthed in the Forum in 1546, may have been originally part of this monument, standing in the lateral ''aediculae''; alternatively, they may have belonged to the nearby

Regia The Regia ("Royal house") was a two-part structure in Ancient Rome lying along the Via Sacra at the edge of the Roman Forum that originally served as the residence or one of the main headquarters of kings of Rome and later as the office of the ...

.Sandys, ''Latin Epigraphy'', pp. 167–172

References

Bibliography

* Brian Rose, C. (2005)
The Parthians in Augustan Rome
American Journal of Archaeology, 109, No. 1, pp. 21-75. * von Freytag gen. Löringhoff, B., and Prayon, F. (1982). ''Praestant Interna. Festschrift Ulrich Hausmann.'' * Hammond, N.G.L. and Scullard, H.H. (eds.) (1970). ''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'', Clarendon Press. * Holland, L. B. (1946)
The Triple Arch of Augustus
''American Journal of Archaeology'', 50, No. 1, pp. 52-59. * Horaceck, S. (2015). ''“Arco Partico,” digitales forum romanum, http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/partherbogen/?lang=en.'' '''' * Nedergaard, E. (1994). La collocazione originaria dei Fasti Capitolini e gli archi di Augusto nel Foro Romano. ''Bullettino della Commissione archeologica comunale di Roma'', 96, pp. 33-77. * Reale Accademia dei Lincei. Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche (1883).
Memorie della Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche
'. * Richter, O. (1889). Die Augustusbauten auf dem Forum Romanum. ''Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts'' 4, pp. 137–162. * Sandys, J.E. (1919). ''Latin Epigraphy: an Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions'', Cambridge University Press. * Simpson, C.J. (1992)
On the Unreality of the Parthian Arch
''Latomus'', 51, Fasc. 4, pp. 835-842. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arch Of Augustus, Rome 20 BC Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC

Augustan building projects Ancient Roman triumphal arches in Rome Augustus

Actian Arch

Parthian Arch

See also

References

Bibliography