Online Encyclopedia
Arch of Constantine
The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, a short distance to the west of the Colosseum. It was erected to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, 312 AD. The battle is represented on the very coarsely scultpured band over the right-hand side arch, on the front away from the Colosseum.
The general design of the arch is exceedingly good, and is probably copied from the Arch of Trajan ; from which are taken not only the fine sculptured panels with scenes in the life of Trajan, but also the main entablature, and the eight magnificent fluted columns of the Corinthian order which decorated the two fronts of the arch. These columns are large monoliths of Numidian giallo antico . One is now replaced by a white marble column, the original one having been placed in the St. John Lateran basilica, where it still exists.
The clumsily sculptured Victories in the spandrels of the central arch, the river-gods over the side arches, the medallions of the rising and setting sun at the ends, the Victories on the pedestals of the giallo columns, and the bands over the side arches, are all of Constantine's time, and show the miserably degraded state into which Roman art had sunk by the beginning of the 4th century AD.
The following inscription is cut in the centre of the attic, but no exact indication of the date is given in it:
IMP · CAES · FL · CONSTANTINO · MAXIMO · P · F · AVGUSTO · S · P · Q · R · QVOD · INSTINCTV · DIVINATATIS · MENTIS · MAGNITVDINE · CVM · EXERCITV · SVO · TAM · DE · TYRANNO · QVAM · DE · OMNI · EIVS · FACTIONE · VNO · TEMPORE · IVSTIS · REM-PUBLICAM · VLTVS · EST · ARMIS · ARCVM · TRIVMPHIS · INSIGNEM · DICAVIT · LIBERATORI · VRBIS — FVNDATORI · QVIETIS
and at the sides:
VOTIS · X · VOTIS · XX — SIC · X · SIC · XX
The second half of the last inscription show that the arch was erected after the tenth year of Constantine's reign (315), the meaning being "as he has reigned ten years, so may he reign twenty". The title Maximus, which is used in the main inscription, occurs only on coins of Constantine which were struck after his tenth year; and the phrase "by divine inspiration" (instinctu divinitatis mentis), though susceptible to wide interpretation at the time and ever since, is read in the Christian tradition to point to a time when Constantine was more under Christian influence than he was in the early stage of his reign (although existing marks on the marble indicate these words may have been added in place of an earlier phrase). The divinity on Constantine's coins is often Sol Invictis according to the coins' iscriptions.
A staircase formed in the thickness of the arch is entered from a door at some height from the ground, in the end towards the Palatine Hill.