La Fortuna visiva di Pompei

Pompei La fortuna visiva
The Arch of Drusus
Archivio di immagini e testi dal XVIII al XIX secolo
Description
Interpretation
The arch located in the North-West
side of the Civil Forum of Pompeii is
commonly named Arch of Drusus. It
flanks the podium of the Temple of
Jupiter at the boundary between the
pronaos and the staircase.
The Arch of Drusus was
discovered between March and
July 1816: excavation reports
of those years, gathered and
published by Giuseppe Fiorelli
(Fiorelli 1860-64, vol. I, p. 180),
are not very precise.
Despite the attic is almost completely
disappeared, it is a rather slender
building. Yet, it is provided of two
piers, whose width is smaller than the
arch span.
Presently the arch consists of a
naked structure of masonry faced
with brickwork. However, a fragment
of fluted marble pilaster, remained in
the North-East corner of the building,
in addition to the thin molding still in
place all around the piers, suggests
that once it was covered with a rich
architectural decoration in marble.
For a long time it has been
conceived as an isolated arch,
placed at the left of the Temple
of Jupiter, whose purpose was
uncertain and whose resulting
effect was to break up the elegant
symmetry of the Forum (Mazois
1812-38, vol. III, p. 55). The
identification with a triumphal
arch was recurring. The functional
aspects of this building have been
also empathized: the stretch of
rubblework that links the arch to
the podium of the temple led Dyer
(Dyer 1868, p. 99) to overestimate
the physical segregation between
the corridor West of the Temple
and the rest of the square, that he
justified with the need of isolation of
the prison and the granary, located in
that side of the Forum.
Presently, the identification with a
honorary arch is definitely recognized.
In addition to this, Nissen (Nissen
1877, p. 318) pointed out the traces
of another arch, located in the SouthEast side of the podium and within
the travertine pavement of the Forum.
He thus reappraised the observations
already made by Gell (Gell 181719, p. 207) during the excavations
and soon denied, laying the basis for
current interpretations.
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The two arches on both sides of
the Capitolium recall the Forum of
Augustus in Rome, with two arches
framing the Temple of Mars Ultor,
built to celebrate Drusus Minor and
Germanicus, sons of the emperor
Tiberius (De Maria 1993; Zanker
1993). Those of Pompeii were
probably dedicated to them as well:
pompei.sns.it
Pompei La fortuna visiva
the Western arch to Drusus, the Eastern one to
Germanicus. Or they were dedicated to other two
principes of the Julius-Claudian dynasty.
In any case, the relation between the imperial
family and the succession, and the arches of
Pompeii, is commonly accepted.
Dating
The arches of Drusus Minor and Germanicus in
Rome were vowed by the Senate in 18 a.D. to
celebrate the pacification of Armenia carried out
by Germanicus. If the identification of the model
is correct, the arches of Pompeii must have been
built in the years immediately following that date.
Recently a new hypothesis was proposed
(Gasparini 2009): the twin arches of Pompeii could
have been dedicated to Tiberius and Germanicus,
like those raised at the sides of the temple of
Saturnus in the Forum Romanum in 15 a.D., being
the arch in Via di Mercurio in Pompeii already
dedicated to Drusus Minor.
Since, after the death of Germanicus, Drusus
was the only candidate to succession, Gasparini
assumes that there was a unique plan, including
all of the three arches, to celebrate Tiberius’ family
in Pompeii, dating to 20-22 a.D. At present there
is no basis for preferring this hypothesis to the
previous one.
As regard the removal of the arch East of the
Temple, it must have occurred before or within 62
a.D.: in a relief found in the house of L. Caecilius
Iucundus, representing the Northern part of the
Forum soon after the earthquake of 62 a.D., the
arch is not represented. The reason of the removal
can’t be ascertained: some scholars argue it was
demolished to give visibility to the portico in front of
the Macellum, to the Arch of Nero behind, and also
to give prominence to the arch in Via di Mercurio
and to the Temple of Fortune. In this case, the Arch
of Germanicus would have been destroyed when
the Arch of Nero was built.
On the other hand, if the hypothesis of Gasperini
is correct, the arch would have been removed
because of the damnatio memoriae suffered by
Caligola, who had usurped his father’s dedication
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of the arch. Finally, the arch could simply have
been irreparably damaged by the earthquake in
62.
The original aspect
The remains of the architectural decoration and
the testimony of the relief of L. Caecilius Iucundus
inspired several hypothetical reconstructions of the
arch.
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Pompei La fortuna visiva
William Gell is the author of one of its
earlier technical representations and
subsequent reconstructions. In the
first edition of his work, he already
shows the marble slabs with horizontal
moldings on the South face of the arch.
In the restored representation of the
arch, each pillar is framed by two fluted
pilasters and horizontally marked by
thin moldings (Gell 1817-19, pl. L, LI).
The triangular spaces deriving on both
sides of the archivolt are filled-in with
relieves of winged figures.
This view is also confirmed by the
sketches of the front of the arch, of its
bottom and by a view of the excavation
progress on the West of the Jupiter
Temple, made by some architects of
the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, that
visited Pompeii during their training
period in Italy (Chevanard et al., Voyage
d’Italie, croquis, Tome 3, p. 126).
The other reconstructions basically
agree in the restoration proposed for
the lower part of the arch, although
pilasters are not always interrupted at
the level of the archivolt springer: only
those in the external corners reach the
attic in the reconstruction proposed by
Mazois, while all of them reach the attic
in the print based on the drawing by
Luigi Rossini.
The upper part is reconstructed more
freely, being entirely disappeared. The
first hypothesis taking into consideration
the relief of Cecilius Iucundus is that proposed by
August Mau: a triangular pediment, that is wide
L. Rossini, Le antichità di Pompei delineate, Roma ca. 1831, p. 35
as the whole South face, being supported by the
external pilasters, frames the archivolt; the attic is
trimmed by another molding and it doesn’t sustain
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any statue.
At present this is still the most widespread
reconstructive hypothesis.
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Chevanard et al. - Chenavard A.-M., Moutier J.-A., Duquesney F.-A., Van Cleemputte H., Voyage d’Italie, croquis [Tome 3], Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Institut
National d’Histoire de l’Art, NUM MS 703 (3).
De Maria 1993 - De Maria S., Gli archi onorari di Roma e dell’Italia romana, Roma 1988.
Dyer 1868 - Dyer T. H., Pompeii, London 1868.
Fiorelli 1860-64 – Fiorelli G., Pompeianarum Antiquitatum Historia, vol. I-II, Napoli 1860-1864.
Gasparini 2009 - Gasparini V., Gli archi onorari di Pompei. Una nuova interpretazione, «Živa Antika. Antiquité vivante» 59, 2009, p. 41-78.
Gell 1817-19 - Gell W., Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompeii, London 1817-19.
Mazois 1812-38 – Mazois F., Les Ruines de Pompéi, vol. I-IV, Paris 1812-1838.
Nissen 1877 – Nissen H., Pompeianische Studien zur Städtekunde des Altertums, Leipzig 1877.
Zanker 1993 - Zanker P., Pompei, Einaudi, Torino 1993
Pompei La fortuna visiva
References
Credits:
3D PDF document created in 2012 by the staff of the research project La Fortuna Visiva
di Pompei (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, IT). Designed, delivered and funded within
the EU project CARARE.
The 3D model integrated in this document was created in 2008 by the Politecnique of
Milan within the Pompeii Project, in agreement among ARCUS SpA (funding institution),
Scuola Normale Superiore and Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii.
Disclaimer:
The rights holder of this 3D PDF document is the Scuola Normale Superiore. Every
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authorized by the rights holder.
3D PDF edited by:
Maria Emilia Masci (Scuola Normale Superiore)
author of texts:
Annamaria De Santis (Scuola Normale Superiore)
authors of 3D model:
Gabriele Guidi (Politecnico di Milano) and staff: Fabio Remondino, Alessandro Rizzi
(Fondazione Bruno Kessler)
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