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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;eparch, post: 4944911, member: 89211&quot;][USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] - fascinating coin- congratulations.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first Emperor to erect a Triumphal Arch to celebrate a victory was</p><p>Augustus, as depicted on this coin (probably !)</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1188708[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>OCTAVIAN. Denarius (30-29 BC). Uncertain Italian mint, possibly Rome.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obv: Bare head right.</p><p>Rev: Octavian&#039;s Actian arch (arcus Octaviani): Single span surmounted by entablature inscribed IMP CAESAR and Octavian in facing triumphal quadriga.</p><p><br /></p><p>RIC 267</p><p><br /></p><p>I quote from the Roman Forum Project :</p><p><br /></p><p>The honorific arch that Augustus received for his victory at Actium heralded the start of a completely new approach to the construction of honorific arches on the Forum. Thus it poses a special problem for scholars who are investigating the Forum under Augustus that the exact location of the Actian Arch has not yet been determined and that no fragments have been ascribed to it. The discussion of this monument is based upon secondary sources, literary works and the depiction of the arch on a contemporary coin. This alone shows that the erection of this arch must have been a sensation, back when the Forum was built.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>History and Significance of the Arch</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The novel thing about the Actian Arch was that it was conspicuously decorated as a monument for the celebration of a military triumph. This effect was mainly achieved by setting a triumphal quadriga on top of the arch. Herein lay a decisive difference between this arch and older Republican arch monuments, such as the Fornix Fabianus at the Forum. Before the battle at Actium, victorious generals and admirals were honoured through the erection of honorific statues and columns (sometimes decorated with naval rams; see <a href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/columnae-rostratae-augusti/?lang=en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/columnae-rostratae-augusti/?lang=en" rel="nofollow">Columnae rostratae of Augustus</a>; <a href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/comitium/?lang=en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/comitium/?lang=en" rel="nofollow">Comitium</a>). Moreover, the victorious triumphators donated their spoils – such as the rams of the defeated fleets or their enemies’ shields – as decoration for the structures on the Forum (see e.g. <a href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/rostra-augusti/?lang=en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/rostra-augusti/?lang=en" rel="nofollow">Rostra Augusti</a>; <a href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/tabernae/?lang=en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.digitales-forum-romanum.de/gebaeude/tabernae/?lang=en" rel="nofollow">Tabernae</a>) in order to showcase their military victory. However, the erection of an arch monument in order to explicitly commemorate a triumph was a sensational novelty in the Forum.</p><p><br /></p><p>This makes it clear how rigorously the ideological celebration of the victory at Actium was planned. Octavian continued a tradition which had been practised since the middle Republic, namely, erecting honorific monuments on the Forum for individuals who had been victorious in battle. However, he was the first to link the honorific arch closely to the triumphal celebration. The great significance of this honorific monument is attested by the fact that its erection was ordered by the Senate: that is, the Senate officially sanctioned and legitimised Octavian’s victory in the civil war – and this act of legitimisation was visible in permanent form to everybody in the Forum.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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