The Arch of Constantine: The Triumphal Gate of the First Christian Caesar

Why is it significant?

Stand beneath the central bay of the Arch of Constantine and look up at the twenty-one-meter-high triple archway carved from white Proconnesian marble.

Key Facts

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Stand beneath the central bay of the Arch of Constantine and look up at the twenty-one-meter-high triple archway carved from white Proconnesian marble. Dedicated in three fifteen AD by the Roman Senate, it commemorates Emperor Constantine the Great's decisive triumph over rival emperor Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge three years earlier.

Notice that the sculptures on the arch appear in wildly different artistic styles. Constantine's builders scavenged and recycled magnificent marble relief panels and statues from monuments of Rome's greatest second-century emperors: Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. This technique of repurposing older imperial stones was called spolia, deliberately linking Constantine to Rome's golden age of virtue.

Look at the Latin dedication carved across the attic: it attributes Constantine's victory to the inspiration of the divinity and the greatness of his mind, subtly referencing the vision of the Christian cross Constantine claimed to have seen in the sky before the battle, bearing the words: In this sign you shall conquer.

Pass through the gate and step onto the basalt paving stones of the Via Sacra.