Fornix Fabianus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Fornix Fabianus , also called fornix Fabiorum or arcus Fabianus , was one of the oldest triumphal arches in Rome and was located in the Roman Forum .

The arch, adorned with statues of gens Fabia , was built by Quintus Fabius Maximus in 121 BC. . Chr built to his victory over the Allobroges to celebrate. It was the first of its kind on or near the Roman Forum, at the eastern end of which it stood next to the Via Sacra . The literary information is too different for precise localization. The arch was either “next to the Regia on the Via Sacra”, “at the Temple of Vesta ”, “on the Via Sacra after the Castor temple ” or “at the Puteal of Lucius Scribonius Libo , which is located in the porticus Iulia”. In particular, the mentioning and identification of the porticus Iulia presents great difficulties, since it is unclear whether it is supposed to be the Basilica Iulia or a separate portico based on the temple of Caesar .

Since no architectural remains that could be assigned to the arch were found in the area on the forum, which was repeatedly dug up and looted, its location is uncertain. In the past it was assumed to be at the eastern end of the regia, today it is more likely to be in the northern course of the Via Sacra at the western end of the regia.

The arch was made in 57 BC. Restored by the curular aedile Quintus Fabius Maximus , a grandson of the victor over the Allobrogans. The relevant inscriptions were unearthed between 1540 and 1546, but have been lost since then. The arch was one of the few buildings of its kind for which the name was retained even after the meaning of the word fornix changed .

literature

  • Filippo Coarelli : II Foro romano . Volume 2: Periodo repubblicano e augusteo . Rome 1985, pp. 171-173.
  • Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, pp. 211-212 ( online ).
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 154 (Fornix Fabianus) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero : Scholion in actio I in Verrem (Thomas Stangl: Pseudoasconiana. Text design and language of the anonymous scholias to Cicero's four first Verrinen . 1909, 321).
  2. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero: Scholion in actio I in Verrem (Thomas Stangl: Pseudoasconiana. Text design and language of the anonymous scholias to Cicero's four first Verrinen . 1909, 336).
  3. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero: Scholion in actio I in Verrem (Thomas Stangl: Pseudoasconiana. Text design and language of the anonymous scholias to Cicero's four first Verrinen . 1909, 350).
  4. ↑ Scholion to Aulus Persius Flaccus 4, 49.
  5. ^ Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide . Herder, Freiburg 1981, pp. 88 and 84 Fig.
  6. ↑ CIL 6, 1303 , CIL 6, 1304 , CIL 6, 31593 .