PULA SITES
On the inner side of the Golden Gate (Porta Aurea), within the walls of the Roman colony of Pola, a private memorial arch of the Sergii family (Sergii) was added at the end of the 1st century BC or the beginning of the 1st century AD. It is among the earliest triumphal arches of the imperial era. The richly decorated arch is a true treasure trove of figural motifs with symbolic meaning. The iconographic program of the relief and lost sculptural decoration includes funerary, heroic, honorary, and triumphal symbolism. The eastern side, leaning against the city gate, has no reliefs; all figural decoration and epigraphic content are on the western side, visible from the direction of the city. The western side of the arch's pilasters is adorned with acanthus clusters and tendrils, while the inner side features vine tendrils emerging from acanthus clusters, which differ in detail on the two pylons. On the northern pylon, the vine tendrils incorporate mating birds and a bird pecking at grapes.
The inner side of the arch is covered with diagonal coffers featuring rosettes and palmettes. The triangular interspaces along the edges of the coffered field are filled with fantastic creatures: sphinxes, eagle-headed griffins with the body of a lion or sea monsters, cetus, various hippocampi with heads of horses or hippos, and depictions of a dog and a panther. In the center is a coffer depicting an eagle seizing a snake, framed by triangles with dolphin representations. The eagle with the snake symbolizes heroic apotheosis. In the corners above the arch, there is a pair of floating Victorias carrying a wreath and a tropaeum. Five inscriptions, one on the frieze and four on the attic, contain the names of three men and one woman, members of two generations.
The frieze above the architrave bears the inscription of Salvia Postuma, the dedicant of the arch, born into the Salvia family, who entered the Sergii family through marriage and paid for the construction of the arch with her own money after the death of the other family members. The inscription is placed between antithetical depictions of light chariots with two harnessed horses (biga) and charioteers, the celestial goddesses Aurora and Luna, brandishing their cloaks. Above the architrave, above the columns of the pylons, on each side, there is a frieze with two erotes carrying festoons and a bucranium with fabric tied around its horns. Above the festoons are rosettes. The frieze on the side panels of the pylons is decorated with a relief of accumulated weaponry.
The attic contains three pedestals with inscriptions, on which stood the statues of three Sergii, facing the city. To the left, on the northern side, is the base of Lucius Sergius, son of Gaius, husband of Salvia Postuma, aedile and duumvir of Pola. In the center is the base of his son, Lucius Sergius Lepidus, aedile of Pola and military tribune of the XXIX legion, which was disbanded after the Battle of Actium. The right, southern base bears the inscription of Gnaeus Sergius, son of Gaius, aedile and quinquennial duumvir of Pola, Lepidus's uncle and Salvia's brother-in-law. Between the statues of her husband and son stood a statue of Salvia Postuma. Lucius Sergius Lepidus, a member of a prominent decurional family in Pola, participated in the civil war after Caesar's assassination on the side of Octavian Augustus and died young, having just opened the doors to a senatorial career. Towards the end of her life, the grieving mother erected a triumphal arch at the main entrance to her city in honor of her family, full of symbols celebrating the hero, as well as the newly formed imperial power.
