Arch of Augustus (Fano)

The Arch of Augustus in Fano

The Arch of Augustus on a relief by Bernardino di Pietro da Carona from 1512/13 at the church of San Michele in Fano

The Arch of Augustus (Arco di Augusto) in Fano is a three-sided arch of honor that was erected in 9 AD in honor of Emperor Augustus . It represents the entrance of the Via Flaminia to the ancient city of Fanum Fortunae . It was established under Augustus as a veteran colony under the name Colonia Iulia Fanestris and provided with a city wall, as the inscription on the arch indicates.

history

The arch of honor was erected in 9 AD. Probably in 1463, the upper floor of the triumphal arch, divided by half-columns with windows and enclosed by a timbered zone, was destroyed during the siege of Fano by Federico da Montefeltro . The U-shaped towers of the Augustan construction phase that once flanked the arch were also badly damaged in this context and demolished in the following three decades. A large-format relief on the wall of the neighboring church is a depiction of the Augustus Arch with upper floor made in 1512/13, around fifty years after the arch's destruction. It was made by the architect and sculptor Bernardino di Pietro da Carona (around 1470–1515) San Michele. For its construction, which was completed in 1504, the building material of the destroyed arch was used to a considerable extent.

inscription

The following dedication inscription was affixed to the side of the arch of honor facing out of town, but only the two middle lines of the frieze zone, which go back to the Augustan dedication, and the last line on the architrave have survived. The latter testifies to the rededication of the arch to the late Constantine the Great from the time after AD 337. His name was mentioned in a first line known from drawings on the entablature of the upper floor, of which only a single inscription stone with the title Augusto is preserved. The inscription first handed down to us by Cyriacus of Ancona in 1435 read as follows:

Divo Augusto Pio Constantino patri dominorum
Imp (erator) Caesar (is) divi f (ilius) Augustus pontifex maximus co (n) s (ul) XIII tribunicia potest (ate) XXXII
imp (erator) XXVI pater patriae murum dedit
curante L (ucio ) Turcio Secundo Aproniani praef (ecti) urb (i) fil (io) Asterio v (iro) c (larissimo) corr (ectori) Flam (inicae) et Piceni

The Heidelberg Epigraphic Database gives lines 2 and 3 of the inscription

Imp (erator) Caesar Divi f (ilius) Augustus pontifex maximus co (n) s (ul) XIII tribunicia potest (ate) XXX <V> II
imp (erator) XX {V} I pater patriae murum dedit

again and follows Marietta Horster on the counts of tribunicia potestas and imperator acclamation . On the basis of her reading, Horster represents a dating of the inscription and the arch to the year 14 AD, since Augustus had only accepted the acclamation 21 times, the information is therefore inconsistent and can probably be linked to a restoration from the 4th century. As part of these measures, the gilded letters from the Augustan period were removed and re-attached with an incorrectly positioned V. The information can only be read conclusively through a corresponding correction and reference is made to the last year of Augustus' reign.

literature

Gunnar Brands : The Arch of Augustus by Fano and the beginning of architecture studies in the Renaissance. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Volume 103, 1988, pp. 489-513 ( online ).
Marietta Horster : building inscriptions of Roman emperors. Investigations into inscription practice and building activity in cities of the western Roman Empire in the time of the Principate (= Historia Einzelschriften. Vol. 157). Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07951-3 , pp. 308-311, No. VI 2, 1.
Sandro De Maria: Gli archi onorari di Roma e dell'Italia romana. “L'Erma” di Bretschneider, Rome 1988, p. 242 f. No. 21.
Valeria Purcaro: Osservazioni sulla Porta Augustea di Fano. In: Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Rendiconti. Series 8, Volume 37, 1982, pp. 141-158.

Web links

Commons : Arch of Augustus (Fano) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Giuseppi Castellani: La chiesa di San Michele in Fano e gli artisti che vi lavorarono. In: Studia Picena. Volume 3, 1927, pp. 147-182; Gunnar Brands : The Arch of Augustus by Fano and the beginning of architecture studies in the Renaissance. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Volume 103, 1988, pp. 489-513, here: pp. 507-510.
↑ CIL 11, 6218 .
^ Inscription in the Heidelberg Epigraphic Database.
^ Marietta Horster : Building inscriptions of Roman emperors. Investigations into inscription practice and building activity in cities of the western Roman Empire in the time of the Principate (= Historia Einzelschriften. Vol. 157). Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07951-3 , pp. 308-311, No. VI 2, 1, here: pp. 309 f.

43.843056 13.014583Coordinates: 43 ° 50 ′ 35 " N , 13 ° 0 ′ 52.5" E

[1] Giuseppi Castellani: La chiesa di San Michele in Fano e gli artisti che vi lavorarono. In: Studia Picena. Volume 3, 1927, pp. 147-182; Gunnar Brands : The Arch of Augustus by Fano and the beginning of architecture studies in the Renaissance. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Volume 103, 1988, pp. 489-513, here: pp. 507-510.

[2] CIL 11, 6218 .

[3] Inscription in the Heidelberg Epigraphic Database.

[4] Marietta Horster : Building inscriptions of Roman emperors. Investigations into inscription practice and building activity in cities of the western Roman Empire in the time of the Principate (= Historia Einzelschriften. Vol. 157). Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07951-3 , pp. 308-311, No. VI 2, 1, here: pp. 309 f.