The Arch of Augustus is an important monument constructed in the city of Susa, Piedmont, in the province of Turin. It was originally built at the end of the 1st century BC to record the renewed alliance between Emperor Augustus and Marcus Julius Cottius, a Celto-Ligurian ruler who had been made king and Roman prefect of the Cottian Alps. The arch, together with other remains from the period, such as the Roman amphitheatre and a Roman aqueduct, underscore the importance that the city of Susa had during the Roman period.
From above, the arch forms a rectangle 11.93 metres long and 7.3 metres wide. It rests on two large bases and there is only one archway. The white marble of the arch was sourced from a nearby quarries at Fornesto and Tre Piloni. [1]
The arch has a unique arcade, in which the archivolt is supported by pilasters. The entablature rests on four Corinthian columns placed at the extremities of each corner, such that a quarter of each drum is embedded in the monument.
The lowest architrave is composed of three bands of which the lowest band is thicker than the middle band, and this in turn is thicker than the top band. Above the architrave, a frieze composed of a bass relief stretches around all four sides. Above that is the cornice which has twenty-two corbels on each face and twelve on each side of the arch. The corbels' panels are decorated with roses. On top of that rests the attic, which displays an inscription on both faces.
The inscription reads:
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 · IEMERIORUM · VESVBIANIORVM · QVADIATIVM · ET · CEIVITATES · QVAE · SVB · EO · PRAEFECTO · FVERVNT [2]
Marcus Julius Cottius, son of King Donnus, leader of the following communities: the Segovii, Segusini, Belaci, Caturiges, Medulli, Tebavii, Adanates, Savincates, Ecdinii, Veaminii, Venisamores, Iemerii, Vesubianii, and Quadiates, and the (aforementioned) communities who were under this leader (dedicated this arch) to Imperator Caesar Augustus, son of a god, Pontifex Maximus, awarded tribunician power 15 times, and acclaimed Imperator 13 times.
The frieze represents the sacrifice of the suovetaurilia, a sacrifice in which the victims were a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus) with the animals intended for sacrifice of exceptional size, clearly much larger than the men leading them to sacrifice. The scene has a great number of symbolic meanings, however it indicates above all that the sacrifice is the focus. The man performing the sacrifice is perhaps to be identified with Cottius. On the western side some representatives of the Cottian communities mentioned in the inscription are depicted. On the southern side a second sacrifice, officiated by Cottius, is depicted. On the eastern side the scene has been completely destroyed by the ravages of time.
The Cottian Alps are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rail Tunnel between Modane and Susa are important transportation arteries between France and Italy (Turin).
The title of imperator originally meant the rough equivalent of commander under the Roman Republic. Later, it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as their praenomen. The Roman emperors generally based their authority on multiple titles and positions, rather than preferring any single title. Nevertheless, imperator was used relatively consistently as an element of a Roman ruler's title throughout the Principate and the later Roman Empire. It was abbreviated to "IMP" in inscriptions. The word derives from the stem of the verb imperare, meaning 'to order, to command'. The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French: Empereür.
Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians. Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.
The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The gens is perhaps best known, however, for Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator and grand uncle of the emperor Augustus, through whom the name was passed to the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first century AD. The nomen Julius became very common in imperial times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history.
The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to the emperor Constantine the Great. The arch was commissioned by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. Situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, the arch spans the Via Triumphalis, the route taken by victorious military leaders when they entered the city in a triumphal procession. Dedicated in 315, it is the largest Roman triumphal arch, with overall dimensions of 21 m (69 ft) high, 25.9 m (85 ft) wide and 7.4 m (24 ft) deep. It has three bays, the central one being 11.5 m (38 ft) high and 6.5 m (21 ft) wide and the laterals 7.4 m (24 ft) by 3.4 m (11 ft) each. The arch is constructed of brick-faced concrete covered in marble.
Glanum was an ancient and wealthy city which still enjoys a magnificent setting below a gorge on the flanks of the Alpilles mountains. It is located about one kilometre south of the town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
Antioch in Pisidia – alternatively Antiochia in Pisidia or Pisidian Antioch and in Roman Empire, Latin: Antiochia Caesareia or Antiochia Colonia Caesarea – was a city in the Turkish Lakes Region, which was at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Aegean and Central Anatolian regions, and formerly on the border of Pisidia and Phrygia, hence also known as Antiochia in Phrygia. The site lies approximately 1 km northeast of Yalvaç, a modern town in Isparta Province. The city was on a hill with its highest point of 1236 m in the north.
The Arch of Septimius Severus at the northwestern end of the Roman Forum is a white marble triumphal arch dedicated in 203 AD to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194-195 and 197–199. After the death of Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta were initially joint Emperors. Caracalla had Geta assassinated in Rome; in the practice now known as damnatio memoriae, Geta's memorials were destroyed and all images or mentions of him were removed from street buildings and monuments. Accordingly, Geta's image and inscriptions referring to him were removed from the arch.
The Basilica Aemilia was a civil basilica in the Roman Forum, in Rome, Italy. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters (328 ft) long and about 30 meters (98 ft) wide. Along the sides were two orders of 16 arches, and it was accessed through one of three entrances.
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The Alpes Cottiae was a small province of the Roman Empire founded in 63 AD by Emperor Nero. It was one of the three provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy, along with the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae and Alpes Maritimae.
Marcus Julius Cottius was King of the Celtic and Ligurian inhabitants of the mountainous Roman province then known as Alpes Taurinae and now as the Cottian Alps early in the 1st century BC. Son and successor to King Donnus, he negotiated a dependent status with Emperor Augustus that preserved considerable autonomy for his country, making him a Roman governor, and adopted Roman citizenship.
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The chieftain called by Latins Donnus was the ruler of the Ligurian tribes inhabiting the mountainous region now known as the Cottian Alps during the 1st century BC. Although initially an opponent of Julius Caesar during the latter's conquest of Gaul, Donnus later made peace with him. Donnus' son and successor, Cottius, initially maintained his independence in the face of Augustus' effort to subdue the various Alpine tribes, but afterwards agreed to an alliance, and the family continued to rule the region as prefects of Rome, until Nero annexed the dominion as the province of Alpes Cottiae. His name was first cited in the Arch of Augustus of Susa engraving.
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The Temple of Hadrian is an ancient Roman structure on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the deified emperor Hadrian by his adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 CE This temple was previously known as the Basilica of Neptune but has since been properly attributed as the Temple of Hadrian completed under Antoninus Pius. With one cella wall and eleven columns from the external colonnade surviving, the remains of the temple have been incorporated into a later building in the Piazza di Pietra, whereby its facade, alongside the architrave which was reconstructed later on, was incorporated into a 17th-century papal palace by Carlo Fontana, now occupied by Rome's Chamber of commerce. While only part of the structure remains, excavations and scholarship have provided us with information regarding its construction techniques and stylistic influences, helping us recreate the building dynamics and significance of the Temple of Hadrian in Imperial Rome.
The Arch of Germanicus is an ancient Roman arch in Saintes, Charente-Maritime in France. It was built in 18 or 19 by a rich citizen of the town, C. Julius Rufus, and dedicated to the emperor Tiberius, his son Drusus Julius Caesar, and his adoptive son Germanicus. It has two bays and was originally sited over the terminus of the Roman road from Lyon to Saintes. On the proposal of Prosper Mérimée in 1843 it was moved fifteen metres during works on quays along the river, and it was restored in 1851.
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