Arch of Constantine

The Arch of Constantine stands in the open ground between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, the largest triumphal arch to survive from ancient Rome: 21 metres high, almost 26 metres wide and more than 7 metres deep, with a tall central opening flanked by two smaller ones. The Roman Senate raised it to celebrate Constantine's victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312, and dedicated it in 315, the tenth year of his reign. It spans the old route of triumphal processions, just before the point where they turned onto the Sacred Way towards the Forum.

The arch is a collage. Much of its sculpture was taken from earlier monuments to three of the best-remembered emperors of the 2nd century: Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. Their faces were recut as Constantine's. On the attic stand statues of captive Dacians from Trajan's time; large panels from a frieze of Trajan's Dacian Wars decorate the ends of the attic and the walls of the central passage; eight rectangular reliefs from a monument to Marcus Aurelius flank the inscription; and above the side arches are eight Hadrianic roundels showing the emperor hunting boar, bear and lion and sacrificing to Apollo, Diana, Hercules and Silvanus. The yellow Numidian marble of the columns completes the richness.

Below the roundels runs a narrow frieze carved for Constantine himself, telling the story of his campaign in Italy. The contrast is startling. The 2nd-century figures move in airy, naturalistic space; the 4th-century ones stand in rigid rows, their heads large and their bodies stocky, arranged around a frontal emperor. Edward Gibbon saw it as proof of the decline of the arts; later art historians have treated it as a key document of the new, late antique way of depicting power. The inscription credits the victory to the emperor acting "instinctu divinitatis", by divine inspiration, wording that has long been debated for what it says about Constantine's turn towards Christianity. Its bronze letters are gone, but the sockets that held them still spell the text clearly.

In the Middle Ages the arch was built into a fortified family stronghold, which helped it survive. It served as the finish of the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Getting there

The arch stands in central Rome, about 2 km from the city's centre point. Colosseo metro station is right beside it, with the main Line B entrance opposite the Colosseum and to the right of the arch. The nearest airport is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 13 km away.