Arcus Titi
About
Triumphal arch on the Via Sacra commemorating the deified Titus and the joint Flavian victory in the Jewish War (70 CE); erected by Domitian shortly after Titus's death, c. 81-82 CE. Standing in 117 CE; famous for its relief panels of the spoils of the Jerusalem Temple.
What happened here
It carries no gate and defends nothing. An arch marks a threshold — a boundary, a road junction, the entrance to a forum — and it exists to make you look up while you pass under it. The attic carries the dedication in bronze letters set into cut sockets; the letters go missing and the sockets stay. The panels beneath show the campaign being celebrated, arranged so that the version of events the emperor prefers is the one at eye level. Traffic goes through it all day, ox carts scraping the jambs. A triumph passes under it once, if at all; the rest of its working life is as a landmark, a meeting point and a shaded spot for someone selling something.
In ancient writing
- Josephus, Jewish War 7.148–152
Describes the triumph of 71 CE and the spoils carried through Rome — the golden table, the lampstand, the Law — the same objects carved on the arch's inner panel.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →