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Arc of Constantine

It's unfortunate that this impressive arch stands next to the Colosseum, for, naturally, anything in the vicinity of the Colosseum will be dwarfed by the comparison. Yet this is unfair with regard to the Arch of Constantine. It's one of the largest arches built by the Romans, is well preserved and features some very fine sculptures. Luckily its proximity to the Colosseum brings the idle wanderer over to find out what it is and be rewarded by what it offers.

Constantine was the emperor who brought a semblance of peace to a Rome that had been fraught with civil war on and off for a hundred years. He gained power by defeating the emperor Maxentius in the famous battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE. The arch was built for Constantine by the Senate and people of Rome in 315 CE to commemorate his victory over Maxentius.

The arch has three portals and is richly decorated with statues and carved reliefs, though many of them were pillaged from earlier structures. The four statues around the upper story were from a monument of Trajan's time and represent Dacian warriors against whom Trajan had fought a successful war. The panels between them come from monuments built for the emperor Marcus Aurelius, while the medallions (between the portals and the upper story) come from Hadrian's time (117-138).

The reliefs that were executed expressly for the arch tell of episodes from the life of Constantine. These works, which form a band around the monument, can easily be differentialted from the earlier sculptures by their lack of realism -- the standards of artisanship had declined during the continual civil wars of the previous century.

Ian Hutchesson