Clear and detailed photos of the Arch de Orange

[L C Cinna]

so it says "philipus has made this". so a provincial artist who made the picture whose romanized name is philip?

[Publius Nonius Severus]

so it says "philipus has made this". so a provincial artist who made the picture whose romanized name is philip?

I have found additional sources that lend veracity to AVOT meaning "has made" or "made by", so I would ration to guess that is indicative of the artisan or to show that it is clearly Gallic spoila.

Did you get "Phillipus" our of it?. I was thinking Villius or Metellus. Part of the name seems to have eroded or broken off so we may never know for sure. After looking at the partial inscriptions on other portions of the arch I can't find any other recognizable pattern

[Tarbicus]

Given what seems to be Roman equipment (gladii, standards, Republican scuta) is it not possible that this displays Gallic spoila retaken by the Romans? It would be quite a powerful message in its own way, in that the Romans may be showing that even if they are defeated, they will always return to retake what is theirs.

[Publius Nonius Severus]

Here some additional stuff...I'll quote directly because I think it's subject to a lot of interpretation since it makes a connection between depictions on Trajan's Column and the Arch in Orange. The following quote is from A ROMAN FRONTIER POST AND ITS PEOPLE
The Fort of Newstead in the Parish of Melrose byJAMES CURLE,

On the Trajan column the shields of the legionaries are rectangular with a curve inwards to protect the body. The same shape appears on the sculptures from the Praetorium at Mainz. Some of the monuments, again, display a shield of hexagonal form. The most common type, however, is oval. This may be noted on the Trajan column among the spoils of the Dacians, as well as in the hands of Romans. It also figures among the Gaulish trophies on the Arch of Orange. We may infer that it was the shield generally borne by the auxiliaries.

So maybe the shield is a gallic auxillaries shield?

-Severus

[Tarbicus]

Did the Gauls use horned saddles with the long leather strips? Perhaps that's a clue?

They seem to be skulls or heads at the sides as well.
[url:2ewhxtx2]http://www.classics.uga.edu/courses/clas4130/images_from_class/Narbonensis/orange/slide21.jpg[/url]

Does this help with the top part of the shield?

[Publius Nonius Severus]

You've got me on gallic saddles and skull stuff.

FWIW, here is a site (all in French unfortunately for me) that gives quite a bit of detail into the depictions. If you can read French you may be in luck.

[url:2pylewbb]http://www.chez.com/arcromain/[/url]

You might also want to try reach out to LEG II AVG. According to their web site the design of the scutum they use was derived from the Arch. Maybe they have further research or insight into the shield patterns on the arch.

-Severus

[S AUFIDIUS]

Hello friends,

try this one:

http://johanna-kuffnerwinklhofer.medion-fotoalbum.at/

select on the left side :

Meine Alben -> Triumphbogen Orange

[Publius Nonius Severus]

That site is very nice Rainer, good find!

[caiusbeerquitius]

I had sent a lot of detailed pics to Jasper for the RAT database, but they probably won´t be online again until within a couple of weeks (?).

[Praefectusclassis]

Yes, an update to the Gallery component has been promised by the software makers for months now. It looks as though I'd better go and find another one and convert whatever we have now.

[drsrob]

I think the writing was put down by the Romans when presenting the captured Gallic equipment to the gods. Sort of like saying, "To Mars, From Gaius" There's an earlier RAT post about this from a while back.

A dedication makes sense.

Seeing that the writing was only on a single shield in the bottom corner, could it not have been a signature of the artist. That would certainly explain why it was not in Latin.

[Tarbicus]

So far it could have been many things

[Mark Headlee]

Peter,

I contacted Leg II AVG and they said they would send me a scan of their Scutum design soon. They are a helpful group of fellas...they also look like they have their "act" together...

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Jim, in your post link to the arch you mention a saddle?

I can see what looks like a head! Is that the saddle beside it , or is it depicting some kind of wild cat? It is hard to tell the way that block edge cuts the image in half :?:

[Matt Lukes]

Seeing that the writing was only on a single shield in the bottom corner, could it not have been a signature of the artist. That would certainly explain why it was not in Latin.

No it's on several of them- the one on the left and at the bottom in image 23, the one with what appear to be Herons in image 27, and what could be a blank panel in the middle left of image 25. Since each bit of writing is within a Tabula Ansata, it sure looks like it was done by the Romans themselves. Not only that but the decorations are interestly reminiscent of those on 'auxilia' shields on Trajan's Column too.

Now this may just demonstrate my ignorance about the nature of this monument, but I was under the impression it was made to commemorate Octavian's victory at Actium against the Roman forces of Marcus Antonius- therefore the spoila are all Roman, yes? The fact that it was in 31BC could account for the older Republican style shields, right? The swords look like gladii, there are many plated belts with their tongues split into three or 4 strips just like early baltei, there are Vexilla and boar Imagiones, parts of ships, etc., etc.- all Roman-looking pieces to me. Why then couldn't the writing on the shields be part of the original decoration? It seems odd to me that an artist would replicate dedications to the gods on this one single monument's spoila (never seen it anywhere else), but since the shield decorations are replicated in great detail, it makes a whole lot more sense to me to think these tabula were there originally. AV OT could be two abbreviated words, could it not? It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me that it'd be Gaulish within a tabula ansata...

Anyone know if there's a way to save the images from that photo album site? I'd like to try sharpening, contrast adjustment, etc. to bring out more detail