AKi-H. TRIUMPHAL. 



AK< H, TRIUMPHAL. 



uf Stcrtiniiu and Scipio were ornamental with gilded statues ; and 

 that uf Scipio with two hone* also. Whether they precisely resembled 

 the later arches a* to their column*, rilievoa, and other accessory parti, 

 we cannot ear. A* far M we can judge from medals, these early 

 triumphal arches couawted of a single arch with a column on each aide, 

 without a stylobate ; the arch was mi-mounted by a simple border a* a 

 kind of architrave. 



Under the emperor* theae niouumenU became very nuueroiu, and 

 wwe overcharged with ornament*. Drusus, the step-eon of Augustus, 

 ia numtymH a* the first who had one rained to him after death, and 

 Livia, the wife of Augustus, waa the first woman to h..m a similar 

 honour wa* decreed. Augustus himself had aeveral triumphal arches 

 erected to him, of which the one at Kimiui, where the Klaminian Way 

 terminated, still remains, and serves as a gate to the town on the aide 

 toward* Rome. Another arch, also erected to Augustus, though 

 inferior in beauty to that of Rimini, exists at Susa, at the comin.n. , 

 uwnt of the road which leads over Mont (Jeuevru into France. Of the 



triumphal arches remaining at Home, that of Titus is the old. 

 wa* erected to him after his death by the agnate, in memory 

 conquest of Judtca. Thi* arch is ornamented with sculptures repre- 

 senting the triumph of the conqueror, and with the ornament* of ' ! 

 temple of Jerusalem which he brought a* spoil* to Rome. But arches 

 were not erected solely to commemorate victories and conquest- 

 were also raised in honour of emperor* for benefit* conferred on their 

 country on some particular occasions : such is the fine arch of Trajan, 

 on the nl.l mol<- ,.f Ancona. It is of white marble, and chaste in it* 

 -;.! ; tin- inscription states that it was raised "by the senate and 

 people of Rome to Trajan, Emperor and Cawar, son of Nerva, the 

 eoin|uen>r of the Uermans and Uacians, high pontiff, Jtc., a most pro- 

 vident prince, for having at his own expense constructed the mole, and 

 thus reii.i.-H 'I tin- access to Italy on this side safer to navigators." 

 Bronze statue* of .Trajan, of his ife Plutiua, and his sister Mnrciana, 

 were placed ou the summit of the arch, but they have been destroyed. 

 Another fine arch in memory of Trajan exists at Benevento; it i 



Arcli of ConiUntine. 



ornameutud with nne rilievo*, and is in very good preservation. All 

 these are single arch** ; but others have two smaller archways, one on 

 each tide of the great central one. These are consequently oblong in 

 their shape, and have a heavier appearance than the single arch. Two 

 "f these triple arches still exist at Rome, that of Septimius Severus, 

 and that called the arch of Constantine, which we have chosen for our 

 illustration. The view here given is from an original drawing. The 

 arch of Constantino U in the valley at the foot of the Palatine Hill. 

 and near the Coloawum. It is the most complete of all the triumphal 

 arches at Rome ; that of Titus has only a central archway, and that of 

 Septimius Severn* is more dilapidated, and more encumbered by 

 accumulation* of soil The style of Constantino's arch is also, for the 

 mo*t part, superior to that of the age in which it was executed, as it 

 consist*, in great measure, of the materials of a similar monument 

 which had been erected to Trajan. But at the name time, owing to its 

 being chiefly built of old materials, and owing to want of skill in the 

 architect and sculptor, it present* MOM striking discrepancies of part*, 

 and some specimen* of bad taste. The captive Parthians, and other 

 sculpture*, which were historically appropriate on the arch of Trajan, 

 are here employed to decorate that of Constantino. Our view indicates 

 an excavation, bounded by a wall of an elliptical form, within which 

 the monument xtands. Accumulation* of soil had raised the level of 

 the ground nearly up to the base* of the columns ; tho excavation wan 



made for the pm po-,. of clearing away tho rubbish, and tho \\ull with 

 the view of protecting the monument 



The number of marble arches, in honour of emperors and other 

 personages, existing in ancient Rome alone, is stated to have bet n 

 at one time thirty-six : only five or six ore now remaining. Other 

 arches are found in various parts of Italy, at Aquino, \ ;. r. : . 

 in Istria, Ac. ; several in the south of France, of which those of 

 Nlmes and Orange ore the best preserved; several in Macedonia, 

 Athens, and in other part* of Greece, all however belonging to 

 the Roman period: several in Syria, and in Barbary, parti' 

 | one at Tripoli ; and another at Constantina, dwcribed by Shaw. In 

 : modern times, triumphal arches have been raised in imitation of the 

 | Roman ones. Those of the gate St. Denis and the gate St. Martin at 

 Paris were raised in honour of I.ouiiXIV. l!"n.|..ui. also had one 

 constructed on the Place du Carousel; it is a triple arch, and has all 

 the heaviness of that particular H|cies of structure. Another, and a 

 much finer one, was begun by hi* onler at Milan, on the opening of 

 tli,. faninu* road across the simplon. It was interrupted by tin- 

 throw of the French amp wince been completed by ordt r of 

 the Austrian government, under the appellation of the Arch of Peace. 

 In London, two structures of the same kind have been raised of late 

 years, a single arch at Hyde Park Corner, and a triple one of marble 

 originally erected in front of Buckingham jxilaue, but removal on the 



