DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0184
Chapter VII.
ARCHES OF TRIUMPH, AQUEDUCTS, BRIDGES,
TOMBS.
THE Roman monumental arch (the term triumphal arch
only occurs quite late in the Roman period) consists of a
large freestanding base for statues, bas-reliefs and inscrip-
tions (either of the Emperor, of members of the Imperial family, or
of private individuals) pierced by one or more passage ways, and
placed generally over a road. The fagades visible from the road
are decorated with pilasters or columns, which, until about the time
of Hadrian, were engaged, but at no time had any real structural
value, and served to frame the decoration of the openings. In a
few cases city gates have the form and decoration of monumental
arches ; and in other cases an earlier arch has been included in the
line of a later city wall. Thus in the two gateways at Verona we
find a series of enrichments in the form of semi-detached columns
and shafts, and pilasters carrying pediments within pediments,
enclosing semi-circular openings, which are quite inconsistent with
the object of defence.1 We have Pliny’s testimony that the use of
columns to carry honorary statues had been in vogue in Rome long
before arches began to be used for the purpose ; so that the usual
assumption that triumphal arches derive their origin from primitive
constructions in wood is not justified. Indeed, the representations
on coins of the Arches of Trajan and Domitian suggest that they
were regarded primarily as pedestals to carry large groups of sculp-
1 There were in fact earlier structures included in the line of the city walls
by Gallienus in 265 a.d. (the arch of the Gavii is now attributed to the end of
the Republic, and would thus be the earliest triumphal arch known (Anti in
Architethira ed Arti Decorative, I (1921-2), 122 sqq.). See Curtis, Roman
Monumental Arches in Supplementary Papers of the American School of Classical
Studies in Rome, II (1908), 26 sqq., with a revision and correction of two
earlier lists (Graef in Baumeister’s Denkmaler, art. Triumph-Ehrenbogen and
Frothingham in A mer. fourn. Archceol., VIII (1904), 1. I have taken it as a
guide in the present chapter.
ARCHES OF TRIUMPH, AQUEDUCTS, BRIDGES,
TOMBS.
THE Roman monumental arch (the term triumphal arch
only occurs quite late in the Roman period) consists of a
large freestanding base for statues, bas-reliefs and inscrip-
tions (either of the Emperor, of members of the Imperial family, or
of private individuals) pierced by one or more passage ways, and
placed generally over a road. The fagades visible from the road
are decorated with pilasters or columns, which, until about the time
of Hadrian, were engaged, but at no time had any real structural
value, and served to frame the decoration of the openings. In a
few cases city gates have the form and decoration of monumental
arches ; and in other cases an earlier arch has been included in the
line of a later city wall. Thus in the two gateways at Verona we
find a series of enrichments in the form of semi-detached columns
and shafts, and pilasters carrying pediments within pediments,
enclosing semi-circular openings, which are quite inconsistent with
the object of defence.1 We have Pliny’s testimony that the use of
columns to carry honorary statues had been in vogue in Rome long
before arches began to be used for the purpose ; so that the usual
assumption that triumphal arches derive their origin from primitive
constructions in wood is not justified. Indeed, the representations
on coins of the Arches of Trajan and Domitian suggest that they
were regarded primarily as pedestals to carry large groups of sculp-
1 There were in fact earlier structures included in the line of the city walls
by Gallienus in 265 a.d. (the arch of the Gavii is now attributed to the end of
the Republic, and would thus be the earliest triumphal arch known (Anti in
Architethira ed Arti Decorative, I (1921-2), 122 sqq.). See Curtis, Roman
Monumental Arches in Supplementary Papers of the American School of Classical
Studies in Rome, II (1908), 26 sqq., with a revision and correction of two
earlier lists (Graef in Baumeister’s Denkmaler, art. Triumph-Ehrenbogen and
Frothingham in A mer. fourn. Archceol., VIII (1904), 1. I have taken it as a
guide in the present chapter.