Arch of Septimius Severus (Thugga)
The Arch of Septimius Severus in the Tunisian town of Thugga , today's Dougga , is a one-gate arch of honor that was erected in 205 in honor of Septimius Severus , his wife Julia Domna and his sons Caracalla and Geta .
The arch rose up as the eastern entrance to the city west of the Temple of Pluto and was at the end of the road from Theveste to Thugga. Only the pylons stand from the arch . In addition, numerous fragments, especially of the inscriptions from the attic, were found. The pillars of the single-gate arch with its approximately five-meter-wide passage have niches framed by pilasters . The flutes of the pilasters are filled with round bars in their lower third. The pilaster bases are lavishly decorated with an egg stick and lesbian kymation . The structural members are missing from the rest of the structure.
In front of the pilasters, full columns once rose on broad pedestals resting in front of the arched pillars . The connection of the pillars to the arch was probably made by a cranked entablature, the further appearance of which is unknown. In terms of its construction, the arch is very close to the somewhat younger Alexander Severus Arch in Thugga, even if its structural ornamentation was less sophisticated and complex.
The dedication inscriptions on the arch, broken into numerous fragments , were found scattered around the site. The pedestals on the side of the passageway and the bases of the statues that were placed in the niches were also inscribed .
From the title of the emperor Septimius Severus in the inscriptions on the attic, the construction of the building can be dated to the year 205, from April to December of that year. The inscriptions on the east side facing out of town and the west side facing inwards differed slightly in content. While the inscription on the east side, next to the dedication to Septimius Severus, whose detailed (and fictitious) genealogical relationships are listed down to Emperor Nerva , to his wife Iulia Domna and his son Caracalla, gives the reason for the construction of the building, the inscription is on the west side in less detail, besides Septimius Severus only names Caracalla and his brother Geta as recipients of the honor and renounces the occasion. The name Getas was removed in 212 after being punished with the Damnatio memoriae . Since the name Plautillas , the wife of Caracallas, is missing, the marriage must have already been dissolved by the time the arch was erected.
The inscription on the east side mentions the foundation of the municipium Septimium Aurelium liberum Thugga as the reason for its construction , which previously consisted of only one civitas and one pagus belonging to Carthage .
On the east side, facing the visitor to the city, the statues of the imperial couple were placed - Septimius Severus in the niche of the south pillar, Iulia Domna on the north side - while the statues of the sons of Caracalla in the north and Geta in the south Niche on the city side of the arch.
Since 1997, the arc as part of the archaeological site of Dougga World Heritage of UNESCO .
literature
- Heinz Kähler : Triumphal Arch (Arch of Honor) 16c. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII A, 1, Stuttgart 1939, Col. 431 f.
- Claude Poinssot: Les ruins de Dougga. Institut national d'archéologie et arts, Tunis 1958, p. 61. Plate XVII.
- Anne-Mari Leydier-Bareil: Les arcs de triomphe dédiés à Caracalla en Afrique romaine (= Histoire de l'art et archeologie Nancy 2nd vol. 2/3). Université Nancy 2, Nancy 2006, pp. 391–397 ( PDF ).
Web links
- Information from the University of Freiburg on Thugga in the Middle Imperial Period
Remarks
- ↑ CIL 08, 26539 ; on the inscription and its reconstruction see also Louis Maurin, Mustapha Khanoussi: Dougga, fragments d'histoire. Choix d'inscriptions latines éditées, traduites et commentées (1.er-4.e siècles). Ausonius, Bordeaux 2000, pp. 32-36.
- ↑ CIL 08, 26540 .
- ↑ Klaus-Peter Johne: The time of the soldier emperors. Crisis and transformation of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD (235-284). Volume 1. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2008, p. 695 f.
- ↑ CIL 08, 26541 .
- ↑ CIL 08, 26542 .
Coordinates: 36 ° 25 ′ 18.6 ″ N , 9 ° 13 ′ 17 ″ E