Arch Of Constantine example essay topic

Arch of Constantine, Rome Tanya Mc Million #2010 History of Architecture Mon / Wed 6: 30-8: 00 pm There is a lot that can be learned from architecture from our past. Every structure had its own purpose and story of its origin. The battle at the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE was the breaking point in Constantine's quest for power. He had been proclaimed Augustus by the troops in Britain in 306 CE, after the death of his father in York, and even though he had no legal right to that title, he refused to relinquish it. Maxentius also claimed the title of Augustus of the western empire. The conflict finally resulted in the battle of the Milvian Bridge just North of Rome, when Constantine's army defeated the numerically superior, but less experienced troops of Maxentius.

Maxentius fell to his death while trying to flee across the Tiber River, as a temporary bridge made of boats collapsed under him and his troops. Constantine entered Rome victorious, and because of this victory the senate awarded him a triumphal arch. "Construction began immediately, and the arch was finished in a few years, to be consecrated in 315/316 CE on the tenth anniversary of Constantine's rise to power". During that time, arches were built to either celebrate a triumph or in memorial of someone in power. The arch is said to be one of the greatest inventions of Roman architecture. The largest and best preserved of Rome's triumphal arches, 'Arch of Constantine', which is generally referred to as the most flamboyant because of its use of colored stone, was raised to celebrate Constantine's victory over his co-emperor Maxentius, in 312 AD.

The arch of Constantine is located in the valley of the Colosseum, and stands near the west side of the Colosseum, at the start of the road that leads south between Palatine and Caelian Hills to the Circus Maximus. Despite its mixed origins the arch is outstanding for its architectural harmony and pure proportions. The arch of Constantine is the largest of only three such structures that exists in Rome today. "The two others are the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Septimius Severus, both in the nearby Forum Roman um". The Arch of Constantine is a three-way arch, measuring 21 m in height, 25.7 m in width and 7.4 m in depth. The central archway is 11.5 m high and 6.5 m wide, while the lateral archways are 7.4 mx 3.4 m.

Eight detached Corinthian columns, four on each side, stand on plinths on the sides of the archways. The lower part, the arches and supporting piers, is built of white marble in opus quadrat um, while the attic is opus covered with marble slabs. Theory has it that the different construction techniques might indicate different construction times for the two parts. The decorative elements on the monument are from different periods and are said to be.

Spol ia means parts taken from earlier monuments. "The arch has parts from the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Constantine himself". Some of the older reused parts have been reformed to give the images of former emperors and the semblance of Constantine. Diagram of the Arch of Constantine. The colors indicate the dating of the decorative elements. Because so many of the decorative sculptures on the Arch of Constantine have been incorporated from other monuments, the diagram above was designed to show from where the relics have come.

The eight medallions or roundels, for instance, set in pairs above the side arches, alternately representing scenes of hunting and sacrifice, and are from the time of Hadrian nearly two hundred years earlier. On four of the roundels, the head of the principle figure has been re-sculpted to represent Constantine, which sometimes has a halo (nimbus) around it, signifying the sacred character of the emperor, an iconography that was adopted by Christians to signify divinity. His head also has been substituted on the reliefs of Marcus Aurelius. Re-cutting the heads and incorporating the sculptural adornments of the great second century emperors into his own arch also served to publicly affirm Constantine as their embodiment and legitimate successor " The eight rectangular reliefs in the attic come from an arch erected in 176 AD to celebrate the victories of Marcus Aurelius. Three other panels from the same series are in the Palazzo dei Conservator i". Standing on the cornice above the columns, the eight Dacian captives, which have been partially restored, may have come from the Forum of Trajan, as do the two large panel reliefs at one end of the arch and in the reveals of the central arch, which originally formed part of a long frieze.

"It is possible, too, that the original emperor was Domitian, who damnation memoria e would have made his monuments available for reuse". On both faces of the arch there are 4 fluted columns of the Corinthian order. "These columns are large monoliths of Numidian gallo antic o. One is now replaced by a white marble column, the original one having been placed in the St. John Lateran basilica, where it still exists". Within the structure, the following inscription is cut in the centre of the attic, but no exact indication of the date is given in it: IMP. CAES.

FL. CONSTANTINE. MAXIMO.P.F. AVGUSTQVOD. INSTINCT. DIVINATATIS. MENT IS.

MAGNITVDINE. CVM. EXERCITV. SVO.

TAM. DE. TYRAN NO. QV AM.

DE. OMNI. E IVS. FACTION E. NO. TEMPORE. ISTIS.

REM-PUBLIC AM. VLT vs. EST. ARMIS. AR CVM. TRIVMPHIS. INSIGNEM.

DICAVIT. LIBERATOR I. V RBIS - FVNDATORI. QVIETISand at the sides: VOTIS.X. VOTIS. XX - SIC.X. SIC. XX The second half of the last inscription inscribed on the arch shows that the arch was constructed after the tenth year of Constantine's reign of 315 AD, "the meaning being 'as he has reigned ten years, so may he reign twenty. ' " The title Maximus, which is used in the main inscription, appears only on coins of Constantine which were struck after his tenth year; "and the phrase 'by divine inspiration' (instinct men tis), though susceptible to wide interpretation at the time and ever since, is read in the Christian tradition to point to a time when Constantine was more under Christian influence than he was in the early stage of his reign (although existing marks on the marble indicate these words may have been added in place of an earlier phrase)".

The divinity on Constantine's coins is often Sol Invictus according to the coins' inscriptions. The arch was built in honor of Constantine's victory. The relics and reliefs on the arch badly "sculptured victories in the spandrels of the central arch, the river-gods over the side arches, the medallions of the rising and setting sun at the ends, the Victories on the pedestals of the gallo columns, and the bands over the side arches, are all of Constantine's time, and show the miserably degraded state into which Roman art had sunk by the beginning of the 4th century AD". The few reliefs made for the monument are recognizable for their hasty craftsmanship, stiff formality and lack of workmanship in antiquity while also considering that it is a arch that the road did not pass through. Even though the art is not top quality as it has been seen in other artifacts from the past, it still tells a story.

The arch itself is a monument to a leader while the art work that cover it conveys victories won, battles lost and the surrounding world, a story that it still being told throughout the world, simply from the viewing of this magnificent structure.