The Arch of Augustus (, ) 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, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, located in the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

. 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 road ...

, between the

Temple of Castor and Pollux The Temple of Castor and Pollux () was an ancient Roman temple, 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) were th ...

and the

Temple of Caesar The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius (; ), also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, ''delubrum'', '' heroon'' or Temple of the Comet Star,Pliny the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', 2.93–94 was an ancient structure in the Roma ...

, near the

Temple of Vesta The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin ''Glossary of ancient Roman religion#aedes, Aedes Vestae''; Italian language, Italian: ''Tempio di Vesta''), was an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. It is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the H ...

, 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 rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

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 Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemen ...

in 20 BC.

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 of 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 Octavian's maritime fleet, led by Marcus Agrippa, and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former R ...

the Senate granted Augustus a triumph 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 ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

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 la ...

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 borne 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 A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

discovered in 1546 and subsequently lost was attributed to the Actian Arch.

Parthian Arch

Cassius Dio mentions an '' ovatio'' and another triumphal arch granted to Augustus after he recovered the

eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

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 Roman legion, legions of Roman heavy infantry under Marcus ...

and during Antony's campaign in

Atropatene Atropatene (; ; ), also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian kingdom established in by the Persian satrap Atropates (). The kingdom, centered in present-day Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region in northwestern Ira ...

without specifying its location. A Veronese

scholiast Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient au ...

commenting on

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 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: the ''Eclogues'' ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' situates the structure next to the Temple of Caesar. The arch is not mentioned by Augustus in his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

; moreover,

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

and

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

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 quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in classical antiquity and the Roman Empire. The word derives from the Latin , a contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. In Latin the word is almos ...

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 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 The ''Acta Triumphorum'' or ''Triumphalia'', better known as the ''Fasti Triumphales'', or Triumphal Fasti, is a calendar of Roman magistrates honoured with a celebratory procession known as a ''triumphus'', or triumph, in recognition of an impo ...

, 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 establishments Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC

Ancient Roman triumphal arches in Rome Augustus

Actian Arch

Parthian Arch

See also

References

Bibliography