Arco dei Fileni
The Arco dei Fileni ( Italian for "Arch of the Philaens"; Latin Arae Philaenorum "Altars of the Philaens" ; Arabic : القوس al-Gaus "the arch") stood in present-day Libya above the Via Balbia coastal road and was one on the ancient border between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica , a triumphal arch built by the Italian colonial power . It was located between what is now Ras Lanuf and El Agheila . The monument, created at the request of Italo Balbo , governor of Italian Libya from 1934 to 1940 , was designed by the architect Florestano Di Fausto and opened on March 16, 1937.
Legend
The name should be reminiscent of the Philaeans (Greek Φιλα ,νοι), those two legendary Carthaginian brothers who, according to Sallust's De bello Iugurthino , were buried alive in this place. According to Sallust, the Philaeans had committed themselves to a race against the Greeks from Cyrene , in which the border between the two spheres of power was to be determined. According to an agreement between Carthage and Cyrene, two residents of each city should make their way to the other so that the place where the two couples meet would be defined as the new border. However, when the Philaeans met the Cyrenaics, a dispute arose. The Philaeans from Carthage were accused of starting too early. To prove their honor, the Carthaginians were ready to be buried alive right on the new frontier. So it happened. According to legend, two arches and altars ( arae ), after which the place Arae Philaenorum (Arephilenorum) was named, commemorated the alleged sacrifice of the Philaenians . However, these did not exist ( or no longer) during Strabon's lifetime .
What is certain is that the place formed the border between the spheres of power of Carthage and Cyrene for centuries ; and after the Romans conquered Carthage, the Arae Philaenorum marked the eastern border of Africa . After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Arephilenorum therefore formed the border between Western and Eastern Rome in North Africa .
architecture
The arch in the desert showed the bronze colossi that represented the Philaeans buried alive. An inscription according to Horace (Carmen saeculare 9) praising the greatness of Rome read: ALME SOL POSSIS - NIHIL VRBE ROMA - VISERE MAIVS (“O nourishing sun, may you see nothing greater than the city of Rome!”) King Idris also left this inscription on Attach in Arabic. An altar according to Carthaginian legend was erected on the arch.
Whereabouts
The building was destroyed in 1973 as a symbol of Italian colonialism by the Libyan revolutionary government, the statues of the two brothers are now in a small museum in Surt , where some neglected reliefs are stored in the open air.
Others
The bow is on the medal for the Italian-German campaign in Africa of 1943 displayed. It also appeared on a lottery ticket from the Tripoli lottery from 1938 to 1940.
A German military cemetery is located near the former location of the arch .
swell
- Strabo , Geographia III, XVII
- Polybios , Historíai III 39, X 40
- Sallust , De bello Iugurthino 19, 79
- Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia V 4
Web links
- L'Arco dei Fileni de Mussolini (French)
Coordinates: 30 ° 19 ′ 44 ″ N , 18 ° 47 ′ 33 ″ E