Q. Fabius Maximus, grandson of Allobrogicus

This is my ancestor’s triumphal monument, the fornix Fabianus. It symbolizes the debt of gratitude that the Senate and the people of Rome felt towards him after the successful suppression of a Gallo-Celtic rebellion. In the territory of Vienna, the consul Quintus Fabius Maximus and his colleague Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus defeated the tribes of the Allobroges and the Arverni respectively. The territory of the defeated tribes became the province of Gallia Transalpina, which we now know as Gallia Narbonensis, or Provincia Nostra (Provincia, for short). Maximus’ victory decided the fate of the war. Temples to Hercules and Mars were immediately set up in the Allobrogian town of Genava. It seemed only fitting that there should be a monument in Rome.
My ancestor’s arch was the first of its kind in the Forum. Other Roman consuls had put up triumphal arches in their own honour elsewhere in Rome, for instance the fornix Scipionis at the top of the clivus Capitolinus. Nowadays one can see triumphal arches everywhere : in Rome, in Italy and in the provinces.
The Gallo-Celtic rebellion was suppressed in the autumn of 633 A.U.C, and the arch was erected some months later. Allobrogicus – so named after the tribe he defeated – had an inscription engraved on both sides of the arch. A grandson, Q. Fabius Maximus (above) restored – changed, really – the monument in 698 A.U.C, the year that the great Lucullus (and, coincidentally, his one-time foe Tigranes II of Armenia) died.
In restoring the arch, Q. Fabius Maximus deliberately modified it. The restoration I have just completed does not concern the monument itself but the memory of Allobrogicus. For despite this triumphal arch in the Forum, rumours of corruption and fraud regarding his role in the Celtic war persist. Historical accounts are contradictory. His character has been slandered with suggestions of debauchery comparable to the most infamous acts of Marc Antony himself.
It is time to set the record straight.

Mauricius Fabius

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Credits :
Property icon by Mauricius Fabius : the Arc de Triomphe in Paris adorned with statues. Icon background courtesy of Senex Caecilius. Roman bust photograph from statuary in the park of the Château of Versailles, copyright 2008 Mauricius Fabius ; page background from David Gurrea’s website. For other picture credits, see after the tour.