Arches on Arches on Arches…

While in Ancient Greece, artists commemorated gods with various temples, the Romans paid respect to their emperors through extremely creating elaborately designed and carved arches. 

The Arch of Titus was commissioned by Emperor Domitian for his brother Titus almost immediately after he assumed rule over Rome in 70 CE (Stokstad 145). It was built to commemorate Titus’ capture of Jerusalem, which ended a violent revolt of the Jews in Palestine.

The structure itself is a large free-standing gateway made of concrete with a passageway covered by a barrel vault, which is a half cylinder formation, and is faced with marble. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans did not have a plentiful supply of marble as readily available and thus built the inner structure of their arches with concrete and faced them with marble to give it the same kind of effect. When it was first constructed, the arch a functional purpose as a base for a monumental bronze statue of horses pulling a chariot and driver. This type of statue was characteristic of the symbol of Roman triumph and thus represents Titus’ victory over Jerusalem (Stokstad, 145).

On either side of the arch, there are attached columns, which do not provide any actual structural support, but add to the aesthetic of the arch. They are composite columns, which combines the volutes of the Greek Ionic capital with the leaves of the Corinthian order (Stokstad, 146).

Reliefs on the inner walls of the arch depicted the events that took place after the victory of the Romans. They show Romans looting the Second Temple of Jerusalem and carrying off treasures to display in Roman during Titus’ triumphal procession. One treasure that is prominently displaced on the relief is an extremely large menorah (Stokstad, 145). The way the reliefs are deeply carved into the marble creates greater variation, depth, and movement of the illustrations. 

Just like the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine was dedicated to him for the 10th anniversary of Constantine’s reign in 315 AD. It was built to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge for sole control of the Roman Empire in the West, a huge triumph at the time (UChigago).

Both arches contain inscriptions, but the one for the Arch of Constantine gives references to the gods or “divine inspiration.”

On either side of the inscription on the attic story of the arch, relief panels were used to illustrate the victory of Marcus Aurelius over the Germans, another symbol of commemorating Roman triumph (Stokstad, 155). What is different about these two statues is that the Arch of Constantine has three arches; one main center arch and two flanking arches.

Over the two flanking arches are roundels, which are medallions showing scenes of hunting and sacrifice.

Furthermore, both the Arch of Titus and Arch of Constantine are two of the largest and most elaborately decorated arches from Ancient Rome and reveal a narrative of the various different emperors and their triumphs for Rome.

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art: A Brief History. Fourth Edition. (Prentice-Hall, 2009).

“Arch of Constantine.” Arch of Constantine. UChicago, n.d. Web. 28 May 2015.

“Arch of Titus.” Arch of Titus. UChicago, n.d. Web. 28 May 2015.

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