“Arcus Augusti”

The Parthian arch of Augustus in the SE corner of the *Forum was erected in 19 B.C. to commemorate Augustus’ return from the East and the recovery of the standards lost to the Parthians at the battle of Carrhae in 53 B.C. (Dio Cass. 54.8.3). Dio does not specify the location of this arch, but a scholion to a passage in the Aeneid situates it ‘next to the Temple of Divus Julius’ (iuxta aedem divi Iulii: schol. Veron. ad Verg. Aen. 7.606; *Divus Iulius, Aedes). Excavations on the S side of the temple have revealed the foundations of a triple-bay arch (Nash I, 96-97), commonly identified as Augustus’ Parthian arch on the basis of denarii of 16 B.C. that depict a triple-bay arch, the higher central arch surmounted by a quadriga, and the two lateral arches crowned by barbarians offering standards to the triumphator (RIC 2 68, no. 359). If this identification is correct, and if the *Sacra Via indeed ran to the S of the *Regia and along the S side of the Forum, then the Parthian arch would have marked the entry of triumphal processions into the Forum proper (Scott). Adjacent to these triple-bay foundations excavators uncovered the foundations of a single-bay arch (Nash I, 96-97), often identified as Augustus’ Actian arch of 29 B.C. which, according to Dio Cassius, was to be erected in the Forum by decree of the Senate (51.19.1). For many years scholars believed that this Actian arch, thought to be represented on denarii of 29-27 B.C. (RIC I2 60, no. 267), was intentionally demolished to make room for the Parthian arch, but Nedergaard has cast doubt on the existence of a single-bay arch in this location. It has recently been suggested that the Parthian arch was simply a reworking of the Actian arch (Rich), but the evidence for the construction of a specifically ‘Actian’ arch in the Forum is inconclusive (Gurval). Coarelli has argued that the coin normally thought to represent the Actian arch actually represents the arch commemorating Octavian’s victory at Naulochus in 36 B.C. (Dio Cass. 49.15.1), and that the triple-bay arch depicted on denarii of 16 B.C. represents the Actian arch, which he locates on the foundations normally associated with the Parthian arch. The Parthian arch, on this reading, was erected to the N of the Temple of Divus Julius (Coarelli 292, fig. 81; *Basilica Paulli), and is depicted on Spanish coins of 18/17 B.C. (RIC I2 50, no. 131-37). Coarelli’s solution, however, requires an untenable redating of a whole series of coins, and in any case there does not appear to be sufficient room N of the Temple of Divus Julius for a triple-bay arch (Kleiner). The Parthian arch more probably stood to the S of the temple on the triple-bay foundations uncovered there. Addendum For the continued debate on the identification and placement of the Parthian (as well as the Actian) arch of Augustus, see Urbem 147 n.188 with bibliography; cf. ibid. 73 n.87.