Arch of Augustus (Susa)

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Arch of Augustus in Susa, south side

The Arch of Augustus in Susa , the ancient Segusio , is a one-gate arch of honor , which dates back to 9/8 BC. Was built in honor of Emperor Augustus . The arch, mostly made of marble, is the best preserved monument of its kind in northern Italy. Its inscription calls as the founder of the Ligurian king Marcus Julius Cottius and is one of the 14 belonging to the Kingdom of nations in this regard.

Representatives of these 14 peoples were also shown on the approximately 33 meter long frieze that adorned the entablature of the arch on four sides. The main theme of the frieze, however, was the suovetaurilia shown on the facades , the sacrifices of the boar, ram and bull. While the frieze composition is in the tradition of narrative reliefs in Roman art, the stencil-like execution is an element of the Gallo-Roman art style . The aim of his pictorial message was a local audience.

location

The arch rose above via Cottia , an important road that connected Augusta Taurinorum , today's Turin , with Vapincum , today's Gap . It led through the Susa valley over the 1850 meter high pass at Matrona Mons through the Cottian Alps . The building site itself was on a hill in the west of the city and was part of an area that could be addressed as sacred . Apart from an altar and aedicules , the so-called Heroon of Cottius was located here . The axis of the arch is aligned with the summit of the approximately 3500 meter high Rocciamelone , which, like the sacred building context, testifies to a positioning that was not chosen solely on the basis of rational considerations. Both are unusual for such an honorary monument. The arch stood outside the city wall, which was only built in the 3rd century. The remains of a larger complex were also found in the immediate vicinity, possibly the residence of the Roman prefect .

architecture

Outlines and plan

The single-gate arch, made of white marble from the Foresto quarries, is 13.30 meters high, 11.93 meters wide and 7.30 meters deep. The clear width of its passage measures 5.38 meters at a height of 8.80 meters. The foundation of the arch is made of gray limestone.

The arch pillars are provided with a fluted three-quarter column on each side of the passage. They stand on the outer sides of the pillars, postament- like plinths, 1.81 meters high, made from the gray limestone of the foundation. Viewed from the front, they look like individual pedestals. The 7.56 meter high columns have Attic bases and are crowned by Corinthian capitals . They carry a 1.54 meter high, Ionic entablature made of a three-fascia architrave and a surrounding sculpted frieze , the east side of which, however, has been destroyed. Contrary to the canonical solution, in which the height of the three archive traverses increases, the scheme was reversed in Susa: the lower fascia is the highest, the upper the lowest. Above the entablature follows a horizontal geison decorated with consoles on the underside . The cassettes between the consoles are mostly filled with rosettes , but as an exception there is a cassette with a depiction of an eagle on the east side, another has a leaf with a lizard as decoration. A 2.16 meter high parapet , which had two almost identical inscriptions made of metal letters on its façade, closes the arch at the top.

The arch of the passage rests on flat pilasters 5.63 meters high that end in corinthian pilaster capitals. The archivolt is divided as the architrave of the entablature into three bands. The barrel vault of the arch has no decoration. The walls of the pillars and the passage are also undecorated.

inscription

The facades of the attic bore two largely identical inscriptions, which were embedded in bronze letters. The inscriptions consisted of four lines each, with the upper line 23 centimeters high, the following 14 centimeters high letters. Using the bedding for the metal letters and the dowel holes for their fixation, they can be reconstructed as follows:

IMP · CAESARI · AVGVSTO · DIVI · F · Pontifici · MAXVMO · TRIBVNIC · potestate · XV · IMP · XIII
M · IVLIVS · REGIS · Donni · F · COTTIVS · PRAEFECTVS · CEIVITATIVM · QVAE · SVBSCRIPTAE · SVNT · SEGOVIORVM · SEGVSINORVM
BELACORVM · CATVRIGVM · MEDVLLORVM · TEBAVIORVM · ADANATIVM · SAVINCATIVM · ECDINIORVM · VEAMINIORVM
VENISAMORVM · IEMERIORVM · VESVBIANIORVM · QVADIATIVM ·VER · CEIVITATES · PAVECTO · FVAE · FVAE

“To the Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of Divus , Pontifex Maximus , holder of the tribunician power for the 15th time , to Emperor
Marcus Iulius Cottius, son of Rex Donnus, Prefect of the Civitates for the 13th time , which are written below: Segovier, Segusiner,
Belacer , Caturiger, Meduller, Tebavier, Adanater, Savincater, Ecdinier, Veaminier,
Venisamer, Iemerier, Vesubianier, Quadiater, and the Civitates that were under his prefecture. "

The only difference between the two inscriptions is a final P in the first line on the north side, which may have to be added to P [ater (P) atriae] , " Father of the Fatherland ". Since Augustus only got this title in the year 2 BC. Was awarded, the inscription was probably extended later. The title of Augustus dates the inscription to the year 9/8 BC. Chr.

In addition to the listed 14 civitates the small kingdom comprised of the founder Cottius the inscription According originally more nations that were no longer at the time of inscription Settling by the Prefecture of the Cottius when one reads the inscription in a literary sense ( "under his prefecture were ") . If, on the other hand , the civitates quae sub eo praefecto fürunt is understood as a formula, as it also appears on military diplomas, then the civitates appearing alongside Cottius as donors can be recognized in the peoples listed above and also named in the nominative. That would have left them under the Prefecture of Cottius.

Frieze

Detail of the north frieze
West frieze, "table group"

As the oldest monument of its kind, the arch has a circumferential relief frieze. Its total length is 33.20 meters, of which 10.75 meters are on the façades and 5.85 meters on the narrow sides. The height of the frieze is 0.52 meters.

The depictions, which cannot be interpreted in every detail, show sacrificial scenes on the north and south sides, while the only remaining western narrow side shows "official" acts.

The central theme of the north side are Suovetaurilia , sacrifices of boars, rams and bulls, which are to be performed at an altar in the middle and decorated with garlands between bucrania . At the side of the altar are two people in toga capite velato , that is, their heads covered with rituals . They are flanked by other Togati. The group is mostly related to Cottius, his sons and representatives of Augustus - such as Drusus , Tiberius or Agrippa - without any clarification or specific assignment being possible. You are about to perform a purification sacrifice called a lustrum . Accordingly, libation prepared for a victim servant a Patera , a time required for the libation donations shell induce brings. The sacrificial animals are brought in from the sides by sacrificial servants and the Victimarius responsible for the killing . A group of five people follow left and right, each carrying an ax, crook , tuba or lituus . Two riders join each side, followed by five Celtic foot soldiers each .

The frieze on the west side shows representatives of the 14 nations ruled by Cottius. You first approach tables that are set up in the side areas of the frieze and at which secretaries or officials sit. After registering there, they will be admitted to the scene in the center of the frieze. Here three people sit around an altar or a marble table, whereby the figure behind the table, which appears smaller in its proportions, can also be thought of as standing. The figures at the side of the table sit on a sella curulis , an official chair, which underlines their rank. Possibly this group of three is Augustus, Cottius and a representative of the city. They are flanked by three lictors each , which highlights the privileged status of the central group. From the sides, representatives of the civitates approach with volumes in hands. They are either on the way to seal a treaty concluded between Cottius and the Romans, a foedus , or to face a census .

Like the north frieze, the frieze on the south facade shows a sacrificial scene, the structure of which largely follows the north frieze. The edges of the scenery, however, are each occupied by a heroically naked figure, clad only with a cloak fixed on the shoulder. They hold an outward-facing horse by the bridle. One would like to recognize in them the pair of twins, the Dioscuri , considered by the sacrifice .

From the almost completely destroyed east side of the frieze, only the remains of two people walking can be seen at the northern corner. An interpretation of the depicted scene is not possible.

position

The Arch of Augustus of Susa is the best preserved monument of its kind in northern Italy and after the 25 BC. The Arch of Augustus of Aosta was also one of the oldest in the region. In contrast to the older arch in Aosta, which still connects Corinthian columns with a Doric entablature and thus has a non-canonical solution to the Corinthian order, the architecture in Susa largely follows urban Roman models as they were in the course of the 1st century BC. Were developed and became binding in the Middle Augustan period. With the discreet use of two different building materials, the arch stands out from many buildings of a similar period as being particularly high-quality. It is also the oldest arched monument on which a sculpted frieze was used as a decorative element.

The “strangely barbaric relief frieze”, as Franz Studniczka wrote in 1903, seems to be in clear contradiction to this high-quality finding of the pure architecture . The frieze was judged to be a “soldier's work”; only Studnicka appreciated the work, executed in a rough notch-like style, as an expression of Gallo-Roman art and placed it in the art-historical framework it deserves . In the meantime, the frieze not only shows evidence of local art production. Rather, the obviously free use of proportions and the deeply elaborated linear design are attributed to the attempt to accentuate and clearly emphasize the visual information of the frieze. The means chosen for this follow the laws of symmetrical composition and iscephalous representation , but not the "natural" model.

In their narrative composition, which places successive events in a simultaneously represented artistic context, the reliefs are entirely in the Roman tradition. Even if the exact interpretation of the content of the reliefs is still the subject of scientific discourse, they are to be addressed as "historical reliefs" and, like these, focus on issues of public life, in this case Segusio and the kingdom of Cottius. To visually support the necessary formulaic elements for a local audience, the reduced, stencil-like style of his relief figures is said to have served, which can probably be traced back to the uniform design of an artist, but were worked out by at least two different hands.

literature

  • Luisa Brecciaroli: Susa. Restauro dell'arco di Augusto. In: Quaderni della Soprintendenza archeologica del Piemonte. Volume 10, 1991, pp. 183-185 ( PDF ).
  • Ermanno Ferrero: L'arc d'Auguste à Suse. Bocca, Turin 1901 ( digitized version ).
  • Dario Fogliato: L'arco di Augusto a Susa. Gruppo archeologico "Ad Quintum", Collegno 1992.
  • Fred S. Kleiner: Arch at Susa. In: Nancy Thomson de Grummond (Ed.): An Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archeology. Routledge, New York 1996.
  • Katja Moede: Susa's Arch of Augustus. Roman rituals outside of Rome. In: Fernande Hölscher, Tonio Hölscher (Ed.): Roman worlds of images. From reality to image and back. Colloquium of the Gerda Henkel Foundation at the German Archaeological Institute Rome, 15. – 17. March 2004 (= archeology and history. Volume 12). Verlag Archäologie und Geschichte, Heidelberg 2007, pp. 133–144.
  • Elisa Panero: Monumenti del potere nell'area alpina occidentale. Dalla tarda età repubblicana alla prima età imperiale. Associazione Culturale Antonella Salvatico, La Morra 2010, pp. 136-145 ( online ).
  • Patrizio Pensabene: Arco di Susa: forme della decorazione architettonica. In: L'arco di Susa ei monumenti della propaganda imperiale in età augustea. Atti del Convegno di studi (Susa, April 12, 2014). Società di Ricerche e Studi Valsusini, Susa 2015, pp. 75-100 ( online ).
  • Jean Prieur: Les arcs monumentaux dans les Alpes occidentales: Aoste, Suse, Aix-les-Bains. In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): The rise and fall of the Roman world . Series II, Volume 12, 1. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, pp. 442-475, here: pp. 451-459.
  • Franz Studniczka : About the Arch of Augustus in Susa. In: Yearbook of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute . Volume 18, 1903, pp. 1-24 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Arch of Augustus by Susa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. On the Elisa Panero location: Monumenti del potere nell'area alpina occidentale. Dalla tarda età repubblicana alla prima età imperiale. Associazione Culturale Antonella Salvatico, La Morra 2010, pp. 136-141.
  2. All dimensions according to Ermanno Ferrero: L'arc d'Auguste à Suse. Bocca, Turin 1901, plate 1.
  3. Elena Cimarosti: Le iscrizioni di età romana sul versante italiano delle "Alpes Cottiae". Universitat de Barcelona, ​​Barcelona 2012, p. 161, no. 31; Ermanno Ferrero: L'arc d'Auguste à Suse. Bocca, Turin 1901, pp. 27-31.
  4. CIL 05, 07231 : Imp (eratori) Caesari Augusto Divi f (ilio) pontifici maxumo tribunic (ia) potestate XV imp (eratori) XIII / M (arcus) Iulius regis Donni f (ilius) Cottius praefectus ceivitatium quae subscriptae sunt Segoviorum / Belacorum Caturigum Medullorum Tebaviorum Adanatium Savincatium Ecdiniorum Veaminiorum / Venisamorum Iemeriorum Vesubianiorum Quadiatium et ceivitates quae sub eo praefecto fuerunt.
  5. ^ Christian Witschel : The perception of Augustus in Gaul, in the Illyricum and in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire. In: Detlev Kreikenbom , Karl-Uwe Mahler, Patrick Schollmeyer , Thomas M. Weber (eds.): Augustus - The view from the outside. The perception of the emperor in the provinces of the empire and in the neighboring states. Files from the international conference at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz from October 12th to 14th, 2006 (= royalty, state and society of early high cultures. Volume 8). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 41–119, here: p. 92.
  6. ^ Umberto Laffi: Studi di storia romana e di diritto. 2nd Edition. Storia e Letteratura, Rome 2007, pp. 337-339.
  7. ^ Hannah Cornwell: The King Who Would Be Prefect: Authority and Identity in the Cottian Alps. In: Journal of Roman Studies . Volume 105, 2015, pp. 41-72.
  8. Cf. Christian Witschel: The perception of Augustus in Gaul, in the Illyricum and in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire. In: Detlev Kreikenbom, Karl-Uwe Mahler, Patrick Schollmeyer, Thomas M. Weber (eds.): Augustus - The view from the outside. The perception of the emperor in the provinces of the empire and in the neighboring states. Files from the international conference at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz from October 12th to 14th, 2006 (= royalty, state and society of early high cultures. Volume 8). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 41–119, here: p. 92; Katja Moede: Susa's Arch of Augustus. Roman rituals outside of Rome. In: Fernande Hölscher, Tonio Hölscher (Ed.): Roman worlds of images. From reality to image and back. Colloquium of the Gerda Henkel Foundation at the German Archaeological Institute Rome, 15. – 17. March 2004 (= archeology and history. Volume 12). Verlag Archäologie und Geschichte, Heidelberg 2007, pp. 133–144.
  9. ^ Jean Prieur: Les arcs monumentaux dans les Alpes occidentales: Aoste, Suse, Aix-les-Bains. In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): The rise and fall of the Roman world. Series II, Volume 12, 1. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, p. 456.
  10. On 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 of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice . ); Elisa Panero: Monumenti del 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bretschneider-online.it
  11. ^ Franz Studnicka: About the Augustus Arch in Susa. In: Yearbook of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute. Volume 18, 1903, p. 2.
  12. Otto Benndorf in: Grigore Tocilescu , Otto Benndorf , George Niemann : The monument of Adamklissi. Tropacum traiani. Vienna 1895, p. 146.
  13. ^ Franz Studnicka: About the Augustus Arch in Susa. In: Yearbook of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute. Volume 18, 1903, p. 11.
  14. ^ Anna Maria Cavargna Allemano: Il fregio dell'arco di Susa, espressione locale di arte provinciale romana. In: Segusium. Volume 7, 1970, pp. 5-23, reprinted in: Romanità valsusina. Segusium, Susa 2004, pp. 113-138, here: pp. 130-134; Sandro De Maria: Apparato figurativo nell'arco onorario di Susa. Revisions critico del problema. In: Rivista di Archeologia. Volume 1, 1977, p. 50 ( PDF ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) ; Jean Prieur: Les arcs monumentaux dans les Alpes occidentales: Aoste, Suse, Aix-les-Bains. In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): The rise and fall of the Roman world. Series II, Volume 12, 1. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, p. 459. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bretschneider-online.it
  15. ^ Stefania Barpi: Il fregio dell'arco di Augusto a Susa: interpretazioni storico-artistiche. In: Romanità valsusina. Segusium, Susa 2004, pp. 139–160, here: pp. 158–160; Stacey L. McGowen: Sacred and civic stone monuments of the northwest Roman provinces (= BAR international series. Volume 2109). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, p. 107 f.
  16. ^ Basically still Tonio Hölscher : Roman visual language as a semantic system (= treatises of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Born 1987, treatise 2). Winter, Heidelberg 1987; see also Luca Giuliani : Portrait and Message. Hermeneutic investigations into portrait art of the Roman Republic. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1986, the same as the Greek models: image and myth. History of picture narration in Greek art. CH Beck, Munich 2003.
  17. For "historical reliefs" see Tonio Hölscher: Classical Archeology, Basic Knowledge. Theiss et al., Stuttgart et al. 2002, pp. 259-268; Tonio Hölscher: Historical reliefs. In: Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer , Mathias R. Hofter (ed.): Emperor Augustus and the lost republic. An exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, June 7th - August 14th, 1988. von Zabern, Mainz 1988, pp. 351–400.
  18. ^ Tonio Hölscher: The conception of history in Roman representational art. In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute. Volume 95, 1980, pp. 265-321, here: p. 287.
  19. ^ Stacey L. McGowen: Sacred and civic stone monuments of the northwest Roman provinces (= BAR international series. Volume 2109). Archaeopress, Oxford 2010, p. 86 f.

Coordinates: 45 ° 8 ′ 9.4 "  N , 7 ° 2 ′ 34.5"  E