DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42778#0187
ARCHES OF TRIUMPH, AQUEDUCTS, &c.
ii5
ture ; the central feature consisting of a triumphal car with four to
six horses, or, as in the Arch of Domitian, with elephants ; in both
cases flanked with statues.
But few arches of the Republican period are known to us even in
literature, and we have not even the fragments formerly attributed
to the Arch of Fabius in the Forum at Rome, since these have re-
rently been assigned to the portico of Nero’s Golden House (p. 134).
We may therefore begin with the Arch of Augustus at Rimini
(27 b.c.), erected to celebrate his restoration of the principal
highways of Italy, which forms a link between gates and arches,
inasmuch as, while its sides were connected with the city wall, the
similarity of its outer and inner fagade and the variety of orna-
mental detail give it a monumental character. It is a single arch
of very fine proportions ; we may note the great size of the
voussoirs, the impost moulding without angle supports, as well as
medallions in the spandrels and the small tympanum over the
arch, a sign of an early date. It served Alberti as a model for
the fagade of the cathedral (1450). The Arches of Aosta and
Aquinum (Plate LV), in both of which we may note the com-
bination of capital and impost moulding, may be connected in
date with it; while that of Susa (9-8 b.c.), a simple, though
dignified structure, is the first which has the frieze decorated with
reliefs (Plate LVI). They represent the conclusion of an alliance
between Augustus and Cottius, who was made prsefect of the Alpine
tribes of the district, over which his father had ruled as king. The
bases of the pilasters supporting the archivolt are on a level with
the base of the pedestals of the columns.
Besides a number of smaller arches in Italy and France,1 the arch
at Orange (Plate LVI) is also to be attributed to the Augustan
period. The beginning of an inscription in honour of Tiberius has
been made out, the bronze letters of which were affixed after the
monument was completed, inasmuch as they cover the decorations
of the architrave.2
It is thus the earliest example of an arch with three openings, the
1 That of Fano dates from 9-10 a.d. It has two side passages and serves
also as an entrance gate to the town.
2 It has been placed very much later on stylistic grounds (e.g., in the pre-
vious editions of the present work), but to go as far as German critics do, and
to say that “ the architect cannot follow the dating given by the epigraphist ” is
tantamount to throwing overboard the evidence of contemporary documents ,
and sets up an arbitrary method of subjective criticism, which, if generally
applied, would lead to utter chaos (Durm., op. cit., 725, 727, cf., Senz, Jahrbuch
des Instituts, III (1888), 1).
ii5
ture ; the central feature consisting of a triumphal car with four to
six horses, or, as in the Arch of Domitian, with elephants ; in both
cases flanked with statues.
But few arches of the Republican period are known to us even in
literature, and we have not even the fragments formerly attributed
to the Arch of Fabius in the Forum at Rome, since these have re-
rently been assigned to the portico of Nero’s Golden House (p. 134).
We may therefore begin with the Arch of Augustus at Rimini
(27 b.c.), erected to celebrate his restoration of the principal
highways of Italy, which forms a link between gates and arches,
inasmuch as, while its sides were connected with the city wall, the
similarity of its outer and inner fagade and the variety of orna-
mental detail give it a monumental character. It is a single arch
of very fine proportions ; we may note the great size of the
voussoirs, the impost moulding without angle supports, as well as
medallions in the spandrels and the small tympanum over the
arch, a sign of an early date. It served Alberti as a model for
the fagade of the cathedral (1450). The Arches of Aosta and
Aquinum (Plate LV), in both of which we may note the com-
bination of capital and impost moulding, may be connected in
date with it; while that of Susa (9-8 b.c.), a simple, though
dignified structure, is the first which has the frieze decorated with
reliefs (Plate LVI). They represent the conclusion of an alliance
between Augustus and Cottius, who was made prsefect of the Alpine
tribes of the district, over which his father had ruled as king. The
bases of the pilasters supporting the archivolt are on a level with
the base of the pedestals of the columns.
Besides a number of smaller arches in Italy and France,1 the arch
at Orange (Plate LVI) is also to be attributed to the Augustan
period. The beginning of an inscription in honour of Tiberius has
been made out, the bronze letters of which were affixed after the
monument was completed, inasmuch as they cover the decorations
of the architrave.2
It is thus the earliest example of an arch with three openings, the
1 That of Fano dates from 9-10 a.d. It has two side passages and serves
also as an entrance gate to the town.
2 It has been placed very much later on stylistic grounds (e.g., in the pre-
vious editions of the present work), but to go as far as German critics do, and
to say that “ the architect cannot follow the dating given by the epigraphist ” is
tantamount to throwing overboard the evidence of contemporary documents ,
and sets up an arbitrary method of subjective criticism, which, if generally
applied, would lead to utter chaos (Durm., op. cit., 725, 727, cf., Senz, Jahrbuch
des Instituts, III (1888), 1).