Description
The Arch of Constantine is a great triumphal arch with three passageways, between the Colosseum and the Palatine, in the heart of ancient Rome. It was inaugurated in AD 315 to celebrate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, in 312. It is made largely of recycled pieces.
The measurements are imposing: 21 meters high, 25.9 wide and 7.4 deep. The central passageway is wider, 11.45 meters high. You can reach it in a few steps from the Colosseo Metro stop.
Above the smaller arches you can see the Constantinian frieze, which tells the campaign against Maxentius. Higher up, the Hadrianic roundels show hunting and sacrifice scenes. In the hunt, the young Antinous, Hadrian's favorite, also appears.
On the attic stand eight Dacian prisoners, which came from Trajan's Forum, and the panels from the time of Marcus Aurelius with scenes of war and peace. On the keystones appear various deities, and on the sides the roundels of the sun and the moon.
Below, on the bases of the Corinthian columns, there are allegorical figures, and on the arch the long inscription dedicates the monument to Constantine. Everything else is a catalog of official Roman art: more than two centuries of history in a single monument.
To make it, reliefs and statues were taken from the monuments of Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, and the heads of the emperors were given the face of the new master. It was not only thrift: Constantine wanted to present himself as the heir of the "good emperors" of the 2nd century.
And the cross of the legend? The inscription speaks of a victory won "instinctu divinitatis," that is, by divine inspiration, a formula perhaps vague on purpose. Sacrifices to the pagan gods also appear on the arch, and scholars still debate how Constantine viewed Christianity.
In 1530 Lorenzino de' Medici was driven out of Rome for having beheaded the figures in the reliefs for fun. And in 1960 the Olympic marathon came through here, won barefoot by Abebe Bikila.
The measurements are imposing: 21 meters high, 25.9 wide and 7.4 deep. The central passageway is wider, 11.45 meters high. You can reach it in a few steps from the Colosseo Metro stop.
Above the smaller arches you can see the Constantinian frieze, which tells the campaign against Maxentius. Higher up, the Hadrianic roundels show hunting and sacrifice scenes. In the hunt, the young Antinous, Hadrian's favorite, also appears.
On the attic stand eight Dacian prisoners, which came from Trajan's Forum, and the panels from the time of Marcus Aurelius with scenes of war and peace. On the keystones appear various deities, and on the sides the roundels of the sun and the moon.
Below, on the bases of the Corinthian columns, there are allegorical figures, and on the arch the long inscription dedicates the monument to Constantine. Everything else is a catalog of official Roman art: more than two centuries of history in a single monument.
To make it, reliefs and statues were taken from the monuments of Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, and the heads of the emperors were given the face of the new master. It was not only thrift: Constantine wanted to present himself as the heir of the "good emperors" of the 2nd century.
And the cross of the legend? The inscription speaks of a victory won "instinctu divinitatis," that is, by divine inspiration, a formula perhaps vague on purpose. Sacrifices to the pagan gods also appear on the arch, and scholars still debate how Constantine viewed Christianity.
In 1530 Lorenzino de' Medici was driven out of Rome for having beheaded the figures in the reliefs for fun. And in 1960 the Olympic marathon came through here, won barefoot by Abebe Bikila.