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ARCH OF AUGUSTUS RIMINI Home > Monuments > Monuments Rimini > Arch of Augustus
HISTORICAL MONUMENTS RIMINIMONUMENTS RIMINIThe Arch of Augustus Monument of incomparable historical and artistic value, symbol of the city of Rimini, the Arch of Augustus has been built, in 27 B.C., to celebrate the magnificent restoration of the Flaminia Road by the Emperor Augustus, as the inscription on the architrave, which in ancient times captured the passer-by’s attention with its bronze characters plated with gold, reminds us. The inscription of the Arch of Augustus, of great historical value, is one of the first Roman public documents in which the name Augustus is attested. The appellative Augustus and the imperial powers were, in fact, conferred by the Roman Senate on Octavian, from this time on Emperor Augustus, in the same year 27 B.C., a few years after the victory in the naval battle of Actium over Mark Antony and queen Cleopatra. Indeed, the Arch, terminal of the Flaminia Road, near the river Ausa, today interred, intended to magnify the peace and security assured by the Emperor Augustus, who put an end to the civil wars. In spite of the celebrative purpose, the Arch of Augustus must not be confused with the honorary or triumphal arches, which were always built isolated in the forum. The Arch of Augustus of Rimini, in fact, replaced the precedent Roman Gate, keeping the function of admission to the city, but with no barrage, to signify that with the Emperor Augustus there was no more the need to take refuge in the city, since an age of peace and prosperity had been established. The Arch of Augustus, about 17.50 metres high, 15 metres wide, and over 4 metres in thickness, was entirely build of blocks of white limestone. It stood on two bases on which were the arch’s piers and was surmounted by a triangular tympanum. The original attic, on which was an equestrian marble statue of Augustus - a quadriga which offered a frontal view of the Emperor, of which are probably left only a fragment of a foot and a horse’s head - has been replaced, during the Middle Ages, with the merlons visible today. Also the rich decoration of the Arch answers the celebrative and symbolic criteria which intended to celebrate the Emperor. The divinities in the clipea, that is, in the circles - Jupiter and Apollo on the external side, Neptune and Rome on the internal one - are greatly symbolic. The god Apollo led Octavian to the victory of Actium over Mark Antony and the queen Cleopatra, Jupiter, the supreme divinity, symbolized the peace of Augustus, the god Neptune celebrated Augustus’ dominion of the seas and the seafaring vocation of Rimini, the image of Rome, worshipped as a goddess in the empire, pointed to the close relationship between Rimini and Rome. The images of human beings, fishes and dolphins on the internal side - towards the city and the sea - horses, wild boars and bulls, images connected with a fruitful nature and rural surroundings, on the external side - towards the country - symbolized too the victory of Augustus and the consequent safeness and prosperity which connected the city with the surrounding territory. The Arch of Augustus was also probably adorned with fountains, situated on the internal side, towards the city, like the ruins of exedras found during archaeological excavations may confirm. Neither the fountains, nor the houses, the walls and the towers, which encircled the Arch of Augustus before the town-planning interventions by Benito Mussolini, are left. The Arch of Augustus, in fact, between 1936 and 1937, has been isolated and cleared from the buildings which encircled it, in order to celebrate in Rimini too the Bimillenary of Augustus and the connection between the ancient Emperor Augustus and Benito Mussolini, who, in mid-August 1936, personally wield a pickaxe and gave the first blow, altering the historical and urbanistic sense of the Arch of Augustus.
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