About halfway along today’s Via del Corso, once known as Via Lata, a large Roman arch used to span the street until the mid-17th century. Originally called the Arcus Hadriani, the arch was renamed Arco di Portogallo (Arch of Portugal) in the 16th century because it was located near the residence of the Portuguese ambassador, the Palazzo Peretti-Fiano.
The arch was removed in 1662 by Pope Alexander VII to widen the Corso and facilitate horse races during Carnival. Many drawings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries depict the arch, which featured a single archway flanked by pairs of columns on each side and surrounded by a cornice.
The two features of the arch that have drawn the most interest are a pair of panel reliefs that were originally incorporated on the north side of the structure. These reliefs have undergone extensive restoration and are now displayed on the main staircase of the Palazzo dei Conservatori Museum in Rome. One of the two reliefs shows the apotheosis of Hadrian’s wife, Sabina, who was deified after her death. Hadrian sits on an upright chair and watches as Sabina is carried away from her funeral pyre (ustrinum) on the back of the torch-bearing personification of Aeternitas (Eternity). At Hadrian’s feet, a reclining semi-nude youth symbolises the Field of Mars (Campus Martius).
When Sabina passed away in 136 or 137, Hadrian constructed a monumental altar in her honour, likely located on the northern Campus Martius, to which this large marble relief may have belonged.
The second relief shows Hadrian standing on the Rostra in the Roman Forum, reading from a scroll to two men and a child in front of a temple. Behind him are the Genius of the Senate and two attendants. It has been suggested that this panel commemorates Hadrian’s continuation of the institutio alimentaria, a welfare program introduced by Nerva and was later expanded by Trajan, designed to subsidise orphans and poor children.
The reliefs date from either the late Hadrianic or early Antonine period, but the architectural style of the arch appears to belong to a later time, specifically the 4th or 5th century AD. This arch was therefore adorned with sculptures taken from earlier monuments, similar to the Arch of Constantine.
Sources:
- Boatwright, M.T. (1987). Hadrian and the City of Rome. Princeton University Press.
- Ancient Rome Live
- Wikipedia
- LacusCurtius
- Musei Capitolini
that emperor hadrian did such wonderful constructions in a time when he could have had absolute power and do nothing of the sort brings tears of joy to my eyes
Is that Pius stood behind Hadrian on the apotheosis?
I don’t think so. In Boatwright’s Hadrian and the City of Rome, the bearded man standing behind Hadrian is identified as an attendant.