More than just Hades Door The horseshoe arches in Spanish northwestern funerary stelae.

Abstract

One Roman funerary stelae originating from Petavonium (Zamora, Spain) with three horseshoe arches under the inscription suggest that there was an architectural and funerary model where the horseshoe arch had a symbolic and constructive role. Our objective is to prove that this type of arch was used in the Northern Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula in funerary context at least from the end of the First Century; and without oriental influences. The similarity between arches in stelae and arches in contemporary Roman mausoleums leads us to conclude that funerary stelae had in their decoration a symbolic representation of the mausoleums.