Arc de Berà
The Arc de Berà ( Catalan for Arch des Berà ), often also written Arc de Barà , is a Roman triumphal arch on today's national road N-340, between the towns of Roda de Berà and Creixell in Catalonia . It is part of the archaeological ensemble of Tarraco , which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 .
The arch of honor arches over the Via Augusta , which is the longest Roman road in Hispania at around 1,500 kilometers . The modern trunk road to Barcelona also ran through the arch until 1937. It is made of limestone , possibly from a nearby quarry, and is adorned with false pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals . It has only one (central) opening. The structure consists of an architrave with a frieze . Of these, however, only the architrave is original. The parts of the superstructure that were replaced in the 19th century stand out today with a much lighter color.
The triumphal arch was probably built during the reign of Emperor Augustus around 13 BC. It is believed that the arch of honor was dedicated to Augustus or his personal patron god and that it served to mark the boundaries of the territories dependent on Tarraco. The inscription was apparently inserted later. The text reads " Ex testamento L (uci) Licini L (uci) f (ilii) Serg (ia tribu) Surae consa [...] " . On the basis of this inscription , a date in the early 2nd century was initially considered in connection with the politician Lucius Licinius Sura , who came from the province of Tarraconensis . Investigations on the preserved original capitals, however, have a date in the last quarter of the 1st century BC. BC, which fits the road construction in Augustan times.
With the Frankish conquest of the year 801 under William of Aquitaine and his son and first count of Barcelona , Berà , the county of Barcelona reached as far as the Roman triumphal arch. After him, the arch received its name, which is still used today, even if the Franks then had to retreat the boundaries of the county to the Llobregat on the southern outskirts of today's Barcelona and these boundaries did not change during the entire 9th and 10th centuries.
literature
- Xavier Aquilué, Xavier Dupré, Jaume Massó, Joaquín Ruiz de Arbulo: Tarraco. An archaeological guide . Médol Tarragona, 1992, ISBN 84-86542-54-5 , p. 89
- Walter Trillmich and Annette Nünnerich-Asmus (eds.): Hispania Antiqua - Monuments of the Roman Age. von Zabern, Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-8053-1547-3 , pp. 137f., 321 u. Plate 97.
Web links
- Tarraco Archaeological Ensemble - UNESCO World Heritage Site (in English and French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ AE 1994, 01086 .
Coordinates: 41 ° 10 ′ 23 " N , 1 ° 28 ′ 8" E
