Return to Ruins

Arco dei Pantani

The high precinct wall that enclosed the forum preserves two triumphal arches, which were added by Tiberius in AD 19 to commemorate victories in Germany by his son Drusus and nephew Germanicus (Tacitus, Annals, II.64). In the Middle Ages, as the area became subject to regular flooding and reverted to marshland, the passageway dedicated to Germanicus came to be called the Arco dei Pantani (from the Italian dei pantani, a quagmire or fen.)

In this etching from Rofolfo Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries (1891), one can see how little excavation of the forum had been completed by the late nineteenth century.

Return to Top of Page

Email