Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The Triumphal Arch 359
(X) The Triumphal Arch.
Incidentally this conception will serve to clear up a long-standing
puzzle, the original character and purpose of the triumphal arch.
P. GraeP, who, in a list large but by no means exhaustive, enumerates
one hundred and twenty-five such arches, scattered throughout the
Roman empire and ranging in date from the middle of the first
century B.C.- to the middle of the fourth century A D.'\ states frankly
that nothing certain is known with regard to the early history of
the type^. The various theories that have been propounded are
conveniently summarised and discussed by G. Spano"'. Most recent
critics, it appears, himself included, have looked to the Greeks of the
Hellenistic age as the originators of this and other such architectural
structures. Not so A. L. Frothingham, who after a wide survey of
the facts concluded that the true parent of the triumphal arch was
the old Roman iaiius^. Frothingham argued (a) that in early days,
when Rome consisted in a group of neighbouring tribes, each tribe
1 P. Graef 'Triumph- und Ehrenbogen ' in Bauaieister Deiikni. iii. 1865 — 1899 with
' Roman
I>ls. 80— 85 and numerous figs, (an article of capital importance). C. D. Curtis
Monumental Arches' in the Supplementary Papers of the American School of Classical
Studies in Rome New York 1908 ii. 26—83 with 18 figs, discusses the origin of triumphal
arches and describes 73 specimens in chronological order {Am. Joum. Arch. 1918 xxii.
H. Flather
218). See also J. Guadet in Daremberg— Saglio Diet. Ant. i. 391—394, J-
and W. Smith in Smith—Wayte— Marindin Diet. Ant. i. [72— 174, H. Wolfflin in the
Repertoriwn fiir Kimstiuissenschaft 1893 xvi. 11 ff., O. Puchstein in Pauly—Wissowa
Real-Enc. ii. 603— 606, C. Huelsen ' Zu den romischen Ehrenbogen' in the Festschrift
ZH Otto Hirschfelcfs 60. Gehurtstag Berlin 1903 pp. 423— 430, Durm Baukunst d. Ro!n.-
pp. 7 '8— 733-
- The arch of Saint Remy, the ancient Glanum in Gallia Narbonensis, probably com-
memorates the victory of lulius Caesar over Vercingetorix and the capture of Alesia
in 52 B.C.
* The arch of Rheims, anciently Durocortorum the chief town of the Remi in Belgica
Secunda, is said to have been erected by Julian in 360 a.d.
It is noteworthy that both the earliest and the latest datable examples of triumphal
arches are to be found in France, which can boast fourteen extant monuments of the sort
(Rome 10, rest of Italy 26, France 14, Germany 1, Spain 6, Africa 54, Asia and other
lands 20: see P. Graef loc. cit. p. 1866).
* P. Graef /^c. cit. p. 1871.
^ G. Spano ' L'origine degli archi onorari e trionfali romani '
in Neapo.is 1903 i. 144 fi^-
^ A. L. Frothingham 'De la veritable signification des monuments romains qu'on
appelle "Arcs de Triomphe" ' in the Rev. Arch. 1905 ii. 216— 230. Cp. W. Warde Fowler
Roman Essays and Interpretations Oxford 1920 p. 73 n. 2 {id. ' Passing under the Yoke '
in the Class. Rev. 1913 xxvii. 48 ft.) : 'Nearly all forms of Roman art are now thought
to be traceable to Greek originals, and without doubt the ornamentations of the triumphal
arches which have survived are Hellenistic; but such a thing as a triumphal arch is not
known in Hellas, and I believe that the idea is far more likely to be Roman.' Mr Warde
Fowler argues that the iugum, the tigilliun, and the porta triumphalis alike imply a 'rite
de passage,' in which human beings pass through a narrow space in order to be rid of
disease, blood-guiltiness, or some other trouble. He is not, of course, committed to Mr
Frothinghams views, still less to mine. «