Roman arch
The Roman arch is a significant architectural structure that served both commemorative and political purposes in ancient Rome. Typically constructed to honor military victories, these freestanding monuments often celebrated the triumphs of Republican generals or emperors over foreign foes. As the Roman Empire expanded, arches were erected not just in Rome but also in provincial cities across modern-day France, Britain, Tunisia, and Turkey, reinforcing the notion of Roman power and authority.
Architecturally, the Roman arch employs a distinctive design featuring a semicircular formation of wedge-shaped stones or bricks, with a keystone at the center that stabilizes the structure. These arches often included columns and friezes adorned with relief sculptures that depicted significant events, such as triumphal processions. Notable examples include the Arch of Titus, which commemorates the defeat of Jerusalem, and later arches like those of Lucius Septimius Severus and Constantine, which shifted the focus from military victories to rivalries among emperors.
Overall, Roman arches served as powerful symbols of legitimacy and triumph, evolving in their purpose and iconography throughout the history of the empire. They remain important reminders of the complexities of Roman culture and governance.
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Roman arch
Related civilization: Imperial Rome.
Date: 1-500 c.e.
Locale: Roman Empire
Roman Arch
The Roman arch is a freestanding monument that commemorates a specific victory over a foreign foe by a Republican general or emperor, although later imperial arches also honor a particular member of the imperial family or even a city itself. Roman arches were built in Rome as well as in provincial cities throughout the empire, with fine examples surviving in modern France, Britain, Tunisia, and Turkey. Such arches served as a constant reminder of Roman power to both citizens and provincials.
The fornix, or honorific arch, is derived from the building technique which incorporates wedge-shaped bricks or stones placed in a semicircular format, with a keystone placed in the center to provide the necessary support against the pressure of the vault. The Romans used this technique to create freestanding arches that have architectural elements similar to that of a temple facade. Arches contain columns, usually engaged, resting on bases that support an entablature and frieze, which usually contains relief sculpture depicting a triumphal procession. The attic above the frieze contains a dedicatory inscription, which supports statues or trophies placed on top of the arch as further reminders of the commemorated victory. Many early imperial arches have only one arched, central passageway or bay. However, later arches, such as the arch of Lucius Septimius Severus (203 c.e.) and the arch of Constantine (312-315 c.e.) in Rome, contain three bays, one central bay flanked by two shorter and narrower bays.
The arch of Titus (c. 80 c.e.) is the most celebrated arch in Rome, commemorating Titus’s defeat of the Jews and his capture of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. The arch spans the Via Sacra, the triumphal processional taken by victorious generals and emperors to display prisoners and booty to the Roman people. The bay contains two relief panels, each representations of Titus’s triumphal procession. The “Spoils Relief” depicts Romans carrying religious items, including a menorah, plundered from the Temple in Jerusalem, and the “Triumph Relief” shows Titus in a chariot, crowned by Victory, who is accompanied by Genius Populi Romani, Genius Senatus, and Roma herself.
Roman imperial arches were also erected to commemorate events other than victory. Augustus erected an arch to his adopted sons, Gaius and Lucius, in the Roman Forum to identify them as legitimate heirs. The arch of Trajan in Beneventum honored Trajan’s reconstruction of a highway, Via Traiana, from Beneventum (modern Benevento) to Brundusium (modern Brindisi).
In the later imperial age, the iconography shifted from celebrating victory over the enemies of Rome to triumph over rival emperors. The arch of Septimius Severus hailed victories over the Parthians, who acted as allies to Septimius Severus’s rival Pescennius Niger (r. 193-194 c.e.). This theme was repeated in the provinces, as on the arch of Septimius Severus at Anazarbus (modern Turkey), which marked the spot of Niger’s defeat. The Christian emperor Constantine the Great erected his arch to celebrate his defeat over his pagan rival, Maxentius, at the Milvian Bridge in 312 c.e.
Bibliography
Anderson, J. C., Jr. Roman Architecture and Society. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Sear, Frank. Roman Architecture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982.