Constantine’s Arch: A Reassessment in the Light of Textual and Material Evidence

Abstract

The Arch of Constantine is a spectacular monument embedded in a densely developed urban landscape, situated at the foot of the north-eastern slopes of the Palatine Hill, at the entrance to the Forum Romanum’s Sacred Way. Its design and the different stages of construction, as well as the spatial and soci- etal context, cause problems in interpretation for which many solutions have been proposed. In recent decades, scholars, if not focusing on the building process, tend to judge the Arch on the basis of its iconographic program, e.g. by distilling a meaning from the use of spolia in its design. While archaeological and art-historical excavations have studied the building process and sculptural programme, this chapter will depart from previous works on the Arch in its historical context, providing some new approaches for its architectural forms and inscriptions.1 As a triumphal monument, dedicated by the senate in Rome, it celebrated a recently arrived victorious ruler after the defeat of an enemy.