The Arco di Costantino (the Arch of Constantine, erected 315 AD to commemorate the Emperor Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312 AD) stands immediately west of the Colosseum, on the route of the ancient triumphal processions from Via Sacra through the Colosseum valley to the Circus Maximus. It is the largest surviving Roman triumphal arch (21 meters tall, 25.9 meters wide, 7.4 meters deep) and the best-preserved, having been incorporated into the medieval fortifications of the Frangipane family in the 11th century, which paradoxically protected it from the quarrying that stripped marble from most other Roman monuments. It is also the most complex Roman triumphal arch from an art-historical perspective, because the majority of its sculptural decoration wasn't made for Constantine at all, but was taken (spoliated) from earlier monuments of Trajan (98-117 AD), Hadrian (117-138 AD), and Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD) and reused in the Constantine arch with new inscriptions substituting the names of those emperors with Constantine's.
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The Arch of Constantine: What to Look At
The Spoliated Reliefs, and What They Mean
The Arch of Constantine is the most concentrated single example of Roman spolia (the deliberate reuse of earlier architectural and sculptural elements) in the city. The roundels (the eight circular relief panels on the upper section) were carved for Hadrian (the heads of the emperors in the roundels were recut to show Constantine or his co-emperor Licinius). The rectangular relief panels above the lateral arches were from a Trajanic monument. The eight standing statues of Dacian captives on the upper attic were captured from a Trajanic monument. Only the narrow frieze just above the side arches (the Constantinian frieze, the long horizontal narrative bands showing the siege of Verona and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge) was made specifically for this arch. The historical interpretation of the spolia: Constantine, who came from the military frontier and lacked the traditional Roman aristocratic education, used the sculptures of the "good emperors" (Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, the Five Good Emperors of the Antonine tradition) to associate his rule with their legitimacy. Or: the early 4th-century workshop tradition had declined to the point where carving new reliefs of the quality of the Trajanic and Hadrianic workshops was no longer possible, and the spolia was an aesthetic choice to maintain quality standards. Both interpretations are simultaneously true.
Arco Di Costantino: tours & tickets
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The main inscription on the Arch of Constantine reads: "IMP CAES FL CONSTANTINO MAXIMO P F AUGUSTO S P Q R QUOD INSTINCTU DIVINITATIS MENTIS MAGNITUDINE CUM EXERCITU SUO TAM DE TYRANNO QUAM DE OMNI EIUS FACTIONE UNO TEMPORE IUSTIS REM PUBLICAM ULTUS EST ARMIS ARCUM TRIUMPHIS INSIGNEM DICAVIT", "The Senate and People of Rome dedicate to the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantine Maximus, Pious, Fortunate, Augustus, because by instigation of the divine and by the greatness of his mind with his army he avenged the Republic on the tyrant and on all his faction with righteous arms." The phrase "instinctu divinitatis" (by instigation of the divine) is deliberately ambiguous, it doesn't specify which divinity, allowing the inscription to be read as referring to the Christian God by Christian readers and to the Roman solar deity Sol Invictus by traditional Roman religion readers. Constantine's religious policy in 315 was still deliberately inclusive. The deliberate ambiguity of the inscription is its most revealing characteristic.
Q&A: Arch of Constantine Rome
Can I go inside the Arch of Constantine?
No, the arch isn't open to interior access for standard visitors. The internal chambers (the arch has small internal spaces accessible from the attic level, originally used as storage and access for the maintenance of the upper sculptures) are occasionally included in special archaeological tours of the Colosseum area. Check coopculture.it for current availability. The exterior is freely visible at all hours from the surrounding pedestrian area, the arch is in a pedestrian zone between the Colosseum and the Palatine hill, with no entry fee or reservation required to view and photograph the exterior from every angle.
