DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0089
Africa under the Caesars
49
female surmounting an eagle on a thunderbolt, cannot be
intended for the Empress, who at the date of the erection of
this monument had already passed middle age. It was probably
a symbol of Theveste as a young and rising city.
IVLIAE • DOMNAE ■ AVG ■ MATRI
CASTRORVM ■ ET • AVG ■ ET ■ SEN
ET • PATRIAE
The inscription on the south facade is illegible, and on the
northern side no longer exists, this part of the edifice having
been restored in recent times. Both these inscriptions were
probably in honour of Caracalla and Geta. The peculiarities of
this architectural composition are the exceptional width of the
frieze, and the absence of an attic—a marked feature in triumphal
arches. For the latter, two tetrastyles, as a crowning feature of
the edifice, are substituted. It has been suggested that there
were similar tetrastyles on each of the four facades, but there is no
mention of that number on any inscription or document, nor is
there any indication on the monument itself of there having
been more than the two mentioned in the testament of Caius
Cornelius Egrilianus.
Triumphal arches form a class of monuments that is ex-
clusively Roman. The Greeks raised columns in honour of
men distinguished in war and intellectual attainments, bearing
out a statement by Pliny the Elder, Columnarum ratio erat attolli
supra ceteros mortales, quod et arcus significant novitio invento.
Arches came in with the Empire as permanent structures. In
the days of the Republic they were made of wood, after the
manner of the Etruscans, and, like similar erections of our own
time, were taken down on completion of a public ceremony.1
These monumental gateways, which generally served as ap-
1 It may be as well to quote the opinion expressed by Gibbon on Roman triumphs,
which is generally accepted : ' A Roman triumph could only be obtained by the
conquerors of nations who had never previously acknowledged the authority of the
Romans; the reduction of a revolted province did not suffice ; the Senate took no
account of victories which did not extend the frontiers of the Empire. This seems to
have been the rule ; but when Titus and his father triumphed over the Jews, and
when the Senate commemorated their victories by medals and that triumphal arch
which has subsisted to the present day, they did nothing more than triumph over a
revolted province, which had been subdued by the arms of Pompey, and governed by
Roman magistrates for the space of fifty years.' (Gibbon, Miscellaneous Works,
Classical, vol. iv. p. 369.)
E
49
female surmounting an eagle on a thunderbolt, cannot be
intended for the Empress, who at the date of the erection of
this monument had already passed middle age. It was probably
a symbol of Theveste as a young and rising city.
IVLIAE • DOMNAE ■ AVG ■ MATRI
CASTRORVM ■ ET • AVG ■ ET ■ SEN
ET • PATRIAE
The inscription on the south facade is illegible, and on the
northern side no longer exists, this part of the edifice having
been restored in recent times. Both these inscriptions were
probably in honour of Caracalla and Geta. The peculiarities of
this architectural composition are the exceptional width of the
frieze, and the absence of an attic—a marked feature in triumphal
arches. For the latter, two tetrastyles, as a crowning feature of
the edifice, are substituted. It has been suggested that there
were similar tetrastyles on each of the four facades, but there is no
mention of that number on any inscription or document, nor is
there any indication on the monument itself of there having
been more than the two mentioned in the testament of Caius
Cornelius Egrilianus.
Triumphal arches form a class of monuments that is ex-
clusively Roman. The Greeks raised columns in honour of
men distinguished in war and intellectual attainments, bearing
out a statement by Pliny the Elder, Columnarum ratio erat attolli
supra ceteros mortales, quod et arcus significant novitio invento.
Arches came in with the Empire as permanent structures. In
the days of the Republic they were made of wood, after the
manner of the Etruscans, and, like similar erections of our own
time, were taken down on completion of a public ceremony.1
These monumental gateways, which generally served as ap-
1 It may be as well to quote the opinion expressed by Gibbon on Roman triumphs,
which is generally accepted : ' A Roman triumph could only be obtained by the
conquerors of nations who had never previously acknowledged the authority of the
Romans; the reduction of a revolted province did not suffice ; the Senate took no
account of victories which did not extend the frontiers of the Empire. This seems to
have been the rule ; but when Titus and his father triumphed over the Jews, and
when the Senate commemorated their victories by medals and that triumphal arch
which has subsisted to the present day, they did nothing more than triumph over a
revolted province, which had been subdued by the arms of Pompey, and governed by
Roman magistrates for the space of fifty years.' (Gibbon, Miscellaneous Works,
Classical, vol. iv. p. 369.)
E