The Arch of Titus is one of the most magnificent ancient monuments surviving in Rome and offers a fascinating insight into one of the most volatile periods in Roman imperial history. The Flavians bridged the end of Augustus’s Julio-Claudian Dynasty, when the Romans still pretended that the institutions of the Republic held sway, and the rise of blatant, autocratic imperialism.
The arch provides information about the Judean War that saw the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 71 CE, the nature of imperial triumphs and imperial ideology under the Flavians, and the process of apotheosis for Roman emperors. This is a detailed look at the history of the Arch of Titus, its iconography, and the ideology that it reflected.
When Was the Arch of Titus Built?
According to the inscription on the front of the arch standing on the Via Sacra in Rome, it was dedicated by the Senate and People of Rome to Divus Titus Vespasian Augustus, the son of Divus Vespasian.
In ancient Rome, the title “Divus” was used for members of the imperial family who had undergone posthumous apotheosis and were now counted among the gods. Titus’s father, the emperor Vespasian, was deified following his death in 79 CE, making Titus the son of Divus Vespasian. Titus himself was deified following his death in 81 CE. This confirms that the arch was completed and dedicated sometime after 81 CE, but how long after?
Titus was succeeded to power by his younger brother Domitian, who had every reason to promote his divine father and brother to consolidate his power. However, according to the Roman biographer Suetonius and later sources, Domitian hated his brother Titus and did nothing to honor him. Consequently, many scholars have questioned whether he would have overseen the dedication of the arch.
They also point out that the Roman poet Martial, writing in 85/86 CE, described a walk along the Via Sacra, and while he described many of the monuments that he passed, he did not mention the arch, suggesting that it was not yet there.
However, the arch was likely dedicated under Domitian, just a bit later in his reign. Domitian dedicated a Temple to Divus Vespasian and Divus Titus together in Rome, and a surviving inscription also records a separate aede (shrine) for Divus Titus, showing that Domitian had no problem honoring his brother.
The fact that the arch is almost completely unadorned on the outside and that decorative panels only survive on the inside could also be evidence that it was dedicated under Domitian. While Domitian had no problem honoring his brother, both the contemporary historians Tacitus and Suetonius make it clear that self-aggrandizement was his principal concern.
It is possible that Domitian decided not to invest resources in completing the arch on the scale originally planned, leaving it mostly unadorned. It is also possible that while the internal reliefs celebrate Titus, Domitian decided to celebrate himself on the external reliefs. If that is the case, the external reliefs were probably removed after his death in 96 CE when he underwent damnatio memoriae (memory damnation). The fact that a tiny image of Domitian survives on one of the inner panels also suggests that it was dedicated before his death, otherwise, he would surely have been excluded.
But while the arch was probably completed and dedicated under Domitian between 86 and 96 CE, it must have been awarded to Titus much earlier. The arch was not awarded to Titus for his deification. It is a triumphal arch awarded to Titus for his role in ending the Jewish War, which saw the Temple in Jerusalem destroyed in 70 CE. He celebrated a joint triumphal ceremony with his father Vespasian, who had previously commanded the Roman forces in Judaea, putting down the Jewish Rebellion of 66 CE. The arch was probably not awarded at the time of the triumph, or it would have been a joint monument with Vespasian. Rather, the senate probably made the award shortly after Titus became emperor in 79 CE.
There is some evidence that construction of the arch was underway during Titus’s reign. Martial wrote a poem called the Liber Spectaculorum, which celebrated the opening of the Colosseum in 80 CE, under Titus. The poet notes that from the Colosseum you can see scaffolding rising in the middle of the road. This must have been for the construction of an important monument for Martial to have referred to it, and likely one linked to the emperor Titus, whom he praises in the poem.
Remains of the Arch
The arch, which stands on the Via Sacra, the main road leading up to the Capitoline Hill, stands 15.4 meters tall (50 feet), 13.5 meters wide (44 feet), and 4.75 meters deep (15.5 feet). It is largely undecorated on the outside. This is unusual. The triumphal arch of the emperor Trajan that still stands at Benevento in Southern Italy is very similar in design to the Arch of Titus but is elaborately decorated on its external faces.
The Arch of Titus may have been designed this way. Perhaps Domitian did not want to cover the expense of fully decorating the monument. Perhaps there were originally external reliefs, but they were removed for political reasons, such as the damnatio memoriae of Domitian. They also could have been removed later, as many Roman monuments were plundered for materials over the years.
In the Middle Ages, the Frangipani Family converted the arch into a fortified tower. It was then restored and almost completely rebuilt at the start of the 19th century. It is difficult to know exactly what it looked like when it was dedicated.
We do know that the arch was originally crowned by statuary, almost certainly of Titus in a triumphal chariot. This was the standard for arches throughout the Imperial Period and coins often depict triumphal arches topped by statues of the general riding a quadriga, a four-horse chariot.
A 6th-century observer, Cassiodorus (Variae 10.30), says that it was mounted by a chariot drawn by elephants. This would be unusual, but if this was the case, then the statue probably celebrated Titus’s deification. Coins celebrating the deification of Vespasian show his cult image being paraded in an elephant-drawn chariot.
The spandrels (the triangular sections in the corners of the Arch of Titus) are decorated with winged personifications of the goddess Victoria. The keystones above the arch entrance are decorated with a small image of a woman on the east side and a man on the west side. There are no definitive arguments for who these figures represent. Aside from this, other parts of the arch are decorated with floral and botanical details, common on imperial monuments.
The main decoration is the two relief panels adorning the inside of the arch. One shows Titus in the triumphal procession of 71 CE, the other spoils from Jerusalem being paraded in that same triumph. The soffit of the axial inside the archway is also decorated with an image of the apotheosis of Titus.
Titus the Triumphator
The inner panel on the north side shows Titus parading as a triumphant general in 71 CE. It shows Titus in a chariot drawn by four horses, and the winged goddess Victoria stands behind him in the chariot. He is surrounded by Roman civil servants known as lictores carrying fasces, which are a bound bundle of wooden rods with an axe. The fasces represented imperium, which was what gave Roman consuls, and later emperors, the right to command the Roman armies.
Leading the chariot is a goddess in a crested helmet. This is almost certainly the goddess Roma, the divine personification of the Roman state, as she appears in this guise on many Roman coins. This indicates that Titus’s triumph is a triumph for Rome.
In front of the chariot wheels stand a semi-nude-robed figure and a togate figure. They are meant to be viewed as a pair and are almost certainly the Genius Populi Romani and the Genius Senati, the tutelary deities of the Roman people and the Roman senate respectively. This again indicates that Titus’s victory is on their behalf, maintaining the fiction of the Roman emperor as the servant of the people and the senate.
Identifications are difficult to make by looking only at the Arch of Titus because the deeply carved reliefs are badly worn in certain areas. But the same trio appears on the much better preserved Cancelleria reliefs, with Roma, the Genius Senati, and the Genius Populi Romani standing behind Domitian. Carved near the end of Domitian’s reign, the relief is well-preserved because it was removed from public display following Domitian’s death. It looks like the sculptor started to rework the panels, changing Domitian’s face, but never finished the work. Domitian was a prolific builder, so the relief could have originally decorated a variety of buildings in Rome.
Similarly, one of the Boscoreale Cups, a treasure of silver cups from the Augustan age, shows a seated Augustus receiving a statuette of Victoria from Venus, the Roman goddess that Augustus and Julius Caesar before him claimed as their familial ancestor. Behind Venus is Roma and the Genius Populi Romani. The Genius Populi Romani is identified by the fact he is holding a patera, which is a shallow round dish used in religious rituals. While this was a private piece, like many other surviving private artworks, the scene was probably copied from a public monument. This may be one of the lost scenes from Augustus’ Ara Pacis.
Thus, the frieze shows a moment in time, when Titus paraded through Rome as a triumphant general in 71 CE. But the divine world is visible in the secular world, with the goddess Roma and the Genii of the people and senate at Titus’s side.
Spoils of Jerusalem
Opposite the triumphal panel on the south side is a relief that depicts another part of the triumphal procession. Men in Roman dress carry spoils taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, showing off the riches of the conquest.
The piece of booty that draws the attention most is the menorah, a seven-branched candelabra that must have been a focal point in the temple. It has become a symbol of the Jewish diaspora. The group also carries golden trumpets, fire pans that would have been used to remove ash from the altar, and a table of showbread. Reconstruction indicates that the booty was likely painted in gold and the background in blue.
While these pieces of booty are interesting, a notable detail is that the procession of spoils passes beneath a triumphal arch. This will have been a temporary structure constructed for the triumphal celebration, likely out of wood. The figures that adorn this arch are very interesting. First, there are two men in quadriga chariots. These are surely the triumphant generals Vespasian and Titus.
Between the two chariots is a man on horseback and a larger-than-life woman, suggesting she is a goddess. The equestrian figure must be Domitian. The contemporary historian Josephus records that Domitian appeared in the triumph on horseback. The fact that he appears on top of the arch at all, and as the central figure at that, is strong evidence that at least this relief was carved during Domitian’s reign. The woman at his side is probably meant to be Roma.
The Apotheosis of Titus
The final image to be discussed you will see when you enter the arch and look up. Surrounded by floral panels is a square panel showing a man riding an eagle. This is meant to show the apotheosis of Titus.
The eagle was the symbol of Jupiter, and it was believed that when a deified emperor ascended, he was carried to the heavens by Jupiter. Public apotheosis ceremonies often involved the release of an eagle, representing the ascent to heaven.
Eagle imagery is very common in Roman representations of apotheosis. A column base shows the emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina ascending to heaven on the back of a winged god with two eagles accompanying them.
This panel detail, plus the potential elephant-drawn quadriga on top of the arch suggests that while the arch was awarded for a triumph, it celebrated Titus’s divinity. This adds weight to the argument that the arch was dedicated under Domitian. Highlighting his divine familial ties, as the Julio-Claudians did before him, would have helped him to consolidate his power.
