The Arch of the Argentari is located at the side of the porch of the Church of San Giorgio al Velabro and very close to the amazing Arch of Janus, one of the best monuments of the ancient Rome (here you can read a detailed study). Despite the name, the Arch of the Argentari is a structure with a lintel that was one of the entrances to the Forum Boarium, the first and most important market of ancient Rome. You have to pay attention because I'm going to describe you a small wonder that is able to display several things.

Imagine how, since the antiquity, very close to the foundation of Rome took place around the VIII century b.C., this area was here, near the bend of the Tiber, and then more easily crossed, to be chosen as a place in which to develop a real market. From the name, then, it is clear that the Forum Boarium was used mainly as a market for livestock, a place where could be found meat. Products which can arise from the activities of sheep farming and breeding, in ancient Rome, represented the strength of the local economy.

The Arch of the Argentari, back to us, was donated by the argentari the romans to the imperial family of Septimius Severus, in the early years of III a.D.. Who were the argentari? We can define them bankers, or however rich people who were in a trade and building their strength. The thing that is most striking, apart from the stunning decoration of the reliefs that cover the entire surface, is a figure completely abraded, which is located next to the personality of the imperial as Caracalla or Septimius Severus. Surely the above figure represented Geta, the brother and heir to the throne of Septimius Severus, who Caracalla killed, accusing him of betrayal. In just a few believe this accusation, as well as today, but the fact is that we are here dealing with a visual example of damnatio memoriae, the total erasure of the memory of a public figure through the destruction of everything that he could to represent, portray and show (from the statues to the surveys). An eternal punishment, which affects the public image of the condemned. Other famous historical figures, from Caligula to Nero, were affected by the damnatio memoriae, so much so that even today it is complicated to come into contact with artefacts that depict them.

Apart from this, and in addition to the extraordinary beauty of the whole complex, with this arch, decorated with reliefs and flanked by the medieval church, it is curious to know how the Arch of the Argentari is similar to many legends from the taste of the esoteric and mystical. It tells the story, in fact, that it conceal a secret entrance and hidden that would lead to a huge treasure. This story begins under the pontificate of Sixtus IV, in the second decade of the XV century, when a mysterious man came to town, bringing with him a book, also mysterious, but very promising. Between the pages of the book, in fact, it seems that there were directions to reach the elusive Treasure of the Argentari. So this mysterious man believed that the Arch of Argentari was the right place where he can start to search for the treasure. According to his book it was there that he had to dig, following in particular some of the clues written in the book: the Arc of the Argentari, in fact, the man would have had to look for a snake and a cornucopia. Both elements, indeed, are found among the bas-reliefs of the arc. Not only that, because near them the man also found a figure that showed, with the index finger, towards the bottom. More and more close to its truth, tasting the Treasure of the Argentari, the mysterious man asked Sixtus IV for permission to dig. The Pope agreed, and the individual began to dig a tunnel in the immediate vicinity of the arc. He entered inside this wonderful marble monument, and nobody saw him anymore...