Arch of Titus (c. AD 81): Triumphal Arch on Rome's Via Sacra

The Arch of Titus is a marble triumphal arch on the Via Sacra in Rome, built around AD 81–82 by the emperor Domitian in honour of his deified brother Titus. Its reliefs show the triumph that celebrated the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70, including Roman soldiers carrying the menorah from the Jewish Temple. It is the oldest surviving triumphal arch in Rome and one of the most influential monuments of Roman art.

Background: Titus and the Jewish War

Titus, the elder son of the emperor Vespasian, took over command of the Roman war against the Jewish revolt in Judaea in AD 69. In AD 70 his forces captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple (see Siege of Jerusalem).

In AD 71 Vespasian and Titus celebrated a joint triumph in Rome, a grand procession of the army, prisoners and captured treasures. The historian Josephus, who witnessed it, described the sacred objects from the Temple carried through the streets, including the golden table and the lampstand. Titus became emperor in 79 and died on 13 September 81, after a reign of just over two years. The Senate declared him divine.

Building the arch

The arch was erected on the Velia, the high point of the Via Sacra, the “Sacred Way” that triumphal processions followed through the Forum. Because its inscription calls Titus “divus” (deified), it must have been completed after his death, and it is usually dated to around AD 81–82, early in Domitian’s reign.

The monument is about 15 metres high and 13.5 metres wide, built of concrete faced with white Pentelic marble. It has a single archway framed by columns with composite capitals, which combine Ionic and Corinthian features and are among the earliest known examples of this order.

The inscription on the attic facing the Colosseum reads, in translation: “The Senate and the Roman people to the deified Titus Vespasian Augustus, son of the deified Vespasian.”

The reliefs

Inside the passage are two famous carved panels. On the south side, soldiers wearing laurel wreaths carry the spoils of the Jerusalem Temple: the seven-branched menorah, the table of the showbread and silver trumpets, along with placards. They pass towards a triumphal arch.

On the north side, Titus rides in a four-horse chariot. The goddess Victory crowns him, and a female figure usually identified as Roma or Virtus leads the horses, while personifications of the Roman people and Senate accompany him. In the centre of the vault, a smaller panel shows Titus being carried up to the heavens by an eagle, a depiction of his apotheosis.

The reliefs were originally painted, and traces of colour suggest that the menorah may have been shown in yellow ochre to imitate gold. A frieze running around the entablature above the columns shows a smaller version of the triumphal procession, with sacrificial animals and bearers of spoils.

The reliefs use carved depth to suggest movement and space, and art historians regard them as high points of Flavian sculpture.

Later history

In the Middle Ages the arch was incorporated into a fortress of the Frangipani family, which helped to preserve its core but damaged the sides. In 1817–1821, under Pope Pius VII, the architects Raffaele Stern and then Giuseppe Valadier dismantled and rebuilt the monument. They replaced missing parts in travertine rather than marble, so that the restored sections are easy to tell apart from the ancient ones, an early example of modern restoration principles.

For centuries many Jews in Rome avoided walking beneath the arch because of what it commemorated. Its menorah relief became the model for the emblem of the State of Israel, adopted in 1949.

Influence

Domitian’s choice to honour his brother was also politically useful. By stressing the divine status of Titus and the victory in Judaea, he linked himself to the military glory of the Flavian family, which had come to power through civil war only a dozen years earlier.

The single-bay design of the arch made it a model for later builders. Renaissance and modern architects studied it closely, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is often cited as one of the monuments it inspired. Roman commemorative art in the next generation, such as Trajan’s Column, developed further the narrative relief that the arch displays.

Timeline

• AD 70: Titus captures Jerusalem and the Temple is destroyed.
• AD 71: Vespasian and Titus hold a joint triumph in Rome.
• AD 79: Titus becomes emperor.
• AD 80: Titus opens the nearby Colosseum.
• AD 81, 13 September: Titus dies; Domitian succeeds him.
• c. AD 81–82: the arch is built in Titus’s honour.
• 1817–1821: Stern and Valadier restore the arch.
• 1949: the menorah relief inspires the emblem of Israel.

Why it matters

The Arch of Titus is both a celebration of Roman victory and a record of a catastrophe for the Jewish people. Its reliefs are the only contemporary Roman images of objects from the Second Temple, and its form shaped triumphal architecture for nearly two thousand years.