43°44′41.20″N7°24′06.49″E / 43.7447778°N 7.4018028°E /43.7447778; 7.4018028
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TheTropaeum Alpium (English:Trophy of the Alps;French:Trophée des Alpes) is a Roman trophy (tropaeum) celebrating theemperorAugustus's decisive victory over the tribes who populated theAlps. The monument's ruins are inLa Turbie (France), a few kilometers from thePrincipality of Monaco.
The Trophy was builtc. 7 BC in honor of Augustus to celebrate his definitive victory over the 45 tribes who populated theAlps. The Alpine populations were defeated during the military campaign to subdue the Alps conducted by the Romans between 16 and 7 BC.
The monument was built of stone from the Roman quarry located about 800 metres (2,600 ft) away, where traces of sections of carved columns are visible in the stone.[citation needed]
The monument as partially restored is 35 metres (115 ft) high. When built, according to the architect, the base measured 35 metres (115 ft) in length, the first platform 12 metres (39 ft) in height, and the rotunda of 24 columns with its statue of an enthroned Augustus is 49 metres (161 ft) high.[citation needed]
One of the stones of the tower contained the names of the tribes. The inscription was only preserved in fragments, but could be reconstructed thanks to the transcription ofPliny the Elder,[1] albeit with minor corrections.[2] It reads:
To theemperor CaesarAugustus, son of thedeified[Julius Caesar],Pontifex Maximus, hailed asImperator[3] for the 14th time, in his 17th year oftribunician power,[4] theSenate and people of Rome [built this], in commemoration that, under his leadership andauspices, all theAlpine peoples, from theUpper Sea to theLower Sea, were submitted to theImperium[5] of the Roman People. Conquered Alpine peoples:[6]
The monument originally served no military purpose and contained no fortress. Rather, it marked the boundary between Italy andGallia Narbonensis, later moved to theVar River. Between the 12th and 15th centuries, however, the Trophy did become a fortress, with locals building houses around its walls. In 1705, when war broke out betweenSavoy andFrance during theWar of the Spanish Succession,Louis XIV ordered the destruction of all fortresses in the region, including this one. The partially destroyed Trophy then became a quarry and its stones were used, among other things, to build the nearby church of Saint-Michel.[citation needed]
The monument was partially restored in 1929 with funds from American philanthropistEdward Tuck.[7]
The Tropaeum is located on theVia Julia Augusta, a Roman road named after Augustus which was built as an extension of theVia Aurelia, and which linked the settlements of Album Intimilium (modernVentimiglia) and Cemenelum (present-dayCimiez inNice). Various fountains within the territory of the communes ofBeausoleil andRoquebrune-Cap-Martin are also said to be Roman.[citation needed]
The Edward Tuck Museum on the site of the Trophy includes fragments, plaster molds, old photographs documenting the monument and its reconstruction. It was built in 1929 and renovated in 2011.[7]
It also includes a 1:20 scale model of the reconstructed Trophy. Another 1:20 scale model is found in Room IX of theMuseo della Civiltà Romana in Rome.[8]
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