Arch of Dolabella
building in Rome, Italy

The Arch of Dolabella and Silanus (Latin, Arcus Dolabellae et Silani) or Arch of Dolabella is an ancient Roman arch. It was built by senatorial decree in 10 AD by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and C. Junius Silanus.
Arch
The arch is located on the Caelian Hill, at the north corner of the site of the Castra Peregrina. It spans the modern Via di S. Paolo della Croce, along the line of the ancient Clivus Scauri. Its location indicates that it was a rebuilding of one of the gates of the Servian Walls, though which one is unclear: possibly the Porta Querquetulana (or Querquetularia) or the Porta Caelimontana. Although the latter is considered the more likely original, there is no indication that any important road went out of the city through the Caelimontana.
History
The extension of the Aqua Claudia undertaken during the reign of Nero made use of the Arch of Dolabella for the last section. Its original purpose was probably to support a branch of the Aqua Marcia.
The travertine arch was not decorated with sculptural relief.
See also
Arch of Drusus – Ancient Roman arch, a landmark of Rome, Italy
List of ancient monuments in Rome
References
External links
Bill Thayer's photo at LacusCurtius
Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012).
“Arch of Dolabella” enters the record as building in Rome, Italy. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Arch, Dolabella and building can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5830586. Authority coordinates are 41.886, 12.495. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arch of Dolabella” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.