Arch of Augustus (Rimini)

Upper parts

Its style is simple, but solemn. The arch is of exceptional size, 8.84 metres across, with a depth of 4.10 metres and a height of 10.40 metres.[3] The opening is flanked by two engaged columns with fluted shafts and Corinthian capitals.[4] There is a rather low triangular pediment, but this does not extend to cover the tops of the columns, but is "poised uneasily between them",[5] creating an inelegant effect,[6] and showing that at least in provincial Italy, the principles of Greek-derived classical architecture were not yet fully grasped. The similar Arco dei Gavi, Verona, of perhaps twenty years later, shows a better understanding of them.

The inside face

The two sides of the arch were identical, but the outer face is now better preserved, with the columns reaching up to their capitals, which they do not do on the inside face. The four clipei (shields) placed next to the capitals each depict Roman divinities: Jupiter and Apollo on the Roman side, Neptune and Roma facing the city of Rimini. The keystone of the arch on each side has a projecting bull;[7] that on the inside face is better preserved.

Keystone bull, and underside of the cornice

According to Dio Cassius and a fairly plausible local legend, the gate was surmounted by a lavish bronze statue of Augustus, probably gilded, and perhaps driving a quadriga.[8]

The main peculiarity of this arch is that the archway is especially large for a gate of the time;[9] it probably could not be closed by doors. The explanation is perhaps that the peaceful policy of Augustus, the so-called Pax Romana, made a civic gate that could be closed seem unnecessary, since there was no danger of attack.

The brick battlements (merlons) on the upper part date to the medieval period (10th century),[10] at which time the city came to be held by the Ghibellines.[11]

The gate remained in use after antiquity with some modifications. The arch remained one of the city gates until the Fascist period, when the city wall was demolished and the arch was left as an isolated monument.

The arch was well known in the Renaissance, and probably influenced the never-completed facade of the nearby Tempio Malatestiano by Leon Battista Alberti, designed in 1450.[12]

Along with the Bridge of Augustus and Tiberius, it is today one of the symbols of Rimini, so important that it appears on the city's coat of arms.[13]

Detail of the inscription

The Latin inscription above the arch on the outer face is restored to read:

SENATVS POPVLVSQVE ROMANVS

IMPERATORI CAESARI DIVI IVLI FILIO AVGVSTO IMPERATORI SEPTEM
CONSOLI SEPTEM DESIGNATO OCTAVOM VIA FLAMINIA ET RELIQVEIS

CELEBERRIMEIS ITALIAE VIEIS ET AVCTORITATE EIVS MVNITEIS

The Senate and People of Rome [dedicated this arch]
to Imperator Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Julius, Imperator seven times,
Consul seven times and consul-elect for an eighth time, on account of the via Flaminia

and the other very distinguished roads of Italy having been repaired by his auctoritas.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arco di Augusto (Rimini).

• Arch of Augustus (disambiguation) for other such arches
• List of Roman triumphal arches

• "Arco d'Augusto", Rimini official tourism site
• Favro, Diane, entry in the Encyclopedia of the History of Classical Archaeology, p. 65, 2015, ed. Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781134268542, google books

• The Arch of Augustus on the website of the district