Arch of Augustus (Susa)

The Arch of Augustus is an Ancient Roman arch constructed in the city of Susa, Piedmont, in the province of Turin. It was built in 9–8 BC to record the renewed alliance between Emperor Augustus and Marcus Julius Cottius, a Celto-Ligurian ruler who had been made king and Roman prefect of the Cottian Alps. The arch, together with other remains from the period, such as the Roman amphitheatre and a Roman aqueduct, underscore the importance that the city of Susa had during the Roman period.

Description From above, the arch forms a rectangle 11.93 metres long and 7.3 metres wide. It rests on two large bases and there is only one archway. The white marble of the arch was sourced from a nearby quarries at Foresto and Tre Piloni.

The arch has a unique arcade, in which the archivolt is supported by pilasters. The entablature rests on four Corinthian columns placed at the extremities of each corner, such that a quarter of each drum is embedded in the monument.

The lowest architrave is composed of three bands of which the lowest band is thicker than the middle band, and this in turn is thicker than the top band. Above the architrave, a frieze composed of a bass relief stretches around all four sides. Above that is the cornice which has twenty-two corbels on each face and twelve on each side of the arch. The corbels' panels are decorated with roses. On top of that rests the attic, which displays an inscription on both faces, likely originally set with bronze letters. They are both inscribed similarly except for the inclusion of an extra P on the inscription facing north, likely for the honorific title of Pater Patriae. Since Augustus was not given this title until 2 BC, it was likely a later addition.Christian Witschel: Die Wahrnehmung des Augustus in Gallien, im Illyricum und in den Nordprovinzen des römischen Reiches. In: Detlev Kreikenbom, Karl-Uwe Mahler, Patrick Schollmeyer, Thomas M. Weber (Hrsg.): Augustus – Der Blick von außen. Die Wahrnehmung des Kaisers in den Provinzen des Reiches und in den Nachbarstaaten. Akten der internationalen Tagung an der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz vom 12. bis 14. Oktober 2006 (= Königtum, Staat und Gesellschaft früher Hochkulturen. Band 8). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, S. 41–119, hier: S. 92.

The inscription reads:

The friezes represents the sacrifice of the suovetaurilia, a sacrifice in which the victims were a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus) with the animals intended for sacrifice of exceptional size, clearly much larger than the men leading them to sacrifice. The scene has a great number of symbolic meanings, however it indicates above all that the sacrifice is the focus. The man performing the sacrifice is perhaps to be identified with Cottius. On the western side some representatives of the Cottian communities mentioned in the inscription are depicted. On the southern side a second sacrifice, officiated by Cottius, is depicted. On the eastern side the scene has been completely destroyed, with only two people walking discernable in the northern corner. Due to this, any interpretations are not possible.For the frieze see Franz Studniczka: About the Arch of Augustus in Susa. In: Yearbook of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute (). Volume 18, 1903, pp. 1–24; Sandro De Maria: Apparato figurativo nell'arco onorario di Susa. Revisions critico del problema. In: Rivista di Archeologia (). Volume 1, 1977, pp. 44–52 (PDF (Memento from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive)); Elisa Panero: Monuments of the Potere nell'area Alpina Occidentale. Dalla tarda età repubblicana alla prima età imperiale. Associazione Culturale Antonella Salvatico, La Morra 2010, pp. 141–145, esp. 141 f.

Arch of Augustus (Susa)

Bron en licentie