L'Arco Di Felini

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 Arco de Fileni, Libya.

The Marble Arch was designed by Italian architect Florestano Di Fausto (16 July 1890 – 11 January 1965) in response to a request from Governor-General Italo Balbo. It was unveiled on 16 March 1937 in a lavish night ceremony attended by Benito Mussolini.

On the arch’s frontispiece was carved a Latin inscription taken from Horace’s Carmen Saeculare. It reads:

ALME SOL POSSIS
NIHIL VRBE ROMA
VISERE MAIVS

It roughly translates to: “Oh kind sun, may you never look upon a city greater than Rome.” 
 

 The Carthaginians were mainly in the western part of Libya and the Greeks were in the eastern part of the country (Cyrenaica) and after a short period of time a border dispute erupted between the two. The Philaeni were two Carthaginian brothers who gave their lives to settle the border issue between the two powers. The border wars lasted for many years without either side becoming the victor. The two colonies finally decided to settle the dispute and draw an official border between the two states. They agreed to send runners from their capitals (Carthage and Cyrene) at a fixed starting time, and make their meeting point as the official border between the two territories  The Carthaginian runners, the two Philaeni brothers were better than their Greek counterparts and advanced much further into Cyrenaica (somewhere near Ras Lanuf) than the Greek counter parts did into Tripolitania. Accusations of cheating were exchanged and it came close to the continuation of the prior war. Instead of returning home defeated, the Greeks gave the Carthaginians a choice: either the two brothers accept being buried alive at the spot where they claim they reached as the boundary between the two countries, or allow the Greeks to advance into the Carthaginian territory as far as they desired. The Philaeni brothers honourably gave up their lives for their country and accepted to be buried alive on the sacred spot. On the Marble Arch, one Philaeni brother statue faced towards Cyrene (east) while the other faced towards Carthage (west).


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