ARCO DI DRUSO
the name that has been given since the sixteenth century
to the arch on the via Appia just inside the Porta S. Sebastiano, perhaps
the arcus Recordationis of the Einsiedeln Itinerary (11. 3; 13. 24), but
see
ARCUS DRUSI. Only the central part of this arch is now standing, but
it was originally triple, or at least with projections on each side, and of
somewhat elaborate construction, although never finished. It is built
of travertine, which was faced with marble, and on each side of the archway
are unfluted columns of Numidian marble with white marble bases and capitals of the Composite order. The archway is 7.21 metres high, 5.34 wide and
5.61 deep. The aqua Antoniniana, the branch of the
AQUA MARCIA (q.v.)
built by Caracalla in 211-216 A.D., ran over this arch, but the brick-faced
concrete that is now visible on top of the arch seems to belong to a period
later than that of Caracalla. This arch cannot be identified with that
of Drusus, both because it is so far from the
VICUS DRUSIANUS (q.v.),
and because its construction belongs to a later period, but it may possibly
be the arch of Trajan in
Region I (q.v.) (HJ 216; Curtis in
PAS ii. 63-64
(who identifies it on grounds of style with the
ARCUS VERI, q.v.); ZA
315, 316 (who holds that it was built for, and is contemporary with the
aqueduct)).
1 See Piranesi, Ant. Rom. i. xix. I.
