FORNIX FABIANUS
FORNIX FABIORUM
an honorary arch erected on or over the
Sacra via at the east end of the forum by Q. Fabius Allobrogicus in
121 B.C. to commemorate his victory over the Allobroges (fornix: Cic. pro
Plane. 17; de or. ii. 267; in
Verr. i. 19; Schol. pp. 133, 393, 396;
Orell.; arcus: Sen. dial. ii. I. 3; Schol.
Pers. iv. 49; vit. Salonini I).
This was the first arch of the kind in or near the forum, and was restored
by the grandson of the builder in 56 B.C.
(CIL i². 762=vi. 1303). Among
the fragments discovered in 1540-46 (
LS ii. 196), in 1882 (
NS 1882, 222-6),
and later, are the nine travertine voussoirs and the archivolt, which
have hitherto been attributed to it.
1 It was therefore believed that the
arch was single, 3.945 metres in diameter, and built of tufa and peperino
with travertine facings (
PAS ii. 28). Three inscriptions were also found
(CIL i². p. 198 and p. 542, No. 763 =vi. 1304ab ;
DE i. 649), to L. Aemilius
Paullus, the elder Africanus, and Fabius, who restored the arch, but these
survive only in copies, and as the original size of the letters is not known,
it is impossible to decide whether they belong to statues placed on top
of the arch, or lower down on the structure (
RE vi. 1739;
PAS ii. 28;
Hulsen, Festschrift fur Hirschfeld 427). For further discussion, see HC
231; Ann. d.
Inst. 1859, 307-325 ; Thed. 145.
The remains of the arch have recently been identified by Van Deman
(
JRS 1922, 26 sqq.) with some scanty remains of tufa foundations on the
north side of the temple of Julius Caesar. She follows Gatti (
NS 1899,
490) in attributing to it a fragmentary inscription (CIL i². 764) [Q. Fabius
L. f. Maxs]umus [aid. cur. restit]lit . . . ori. The identification is accepted
by Hulsen, Forum and Palatine, 36. The marble keystone and other
fragments in the Tabularium, which are sometimes attributed to this
arch (Bocconi, Musei Capitolini, 309), could only belong to a restoration,
of which we have no record; and their provenance is doubtful.