Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-04
ROME MOTHER
OF MEMORIALS
Arch of Titus, Still One of the
Eternal City's Marvels, Was
Erected in First Century

The Romans developed a form OF
war memorial which was peculiarly
their own and which all their chill
dren among the nations have follow
ed and Initiated. That form is the
decorative triumphal arch. which
grew up out of the fact that a special
gate - necessarily temporary was
contrived by the city for the return
of conquerors from campaigns abroad.
vi course there was no time to con-
struct gates or archways of stone
Tor the homecoming heroes to pass
through, and perishable construc-
tions, probably OF wood, were there
fore built, underneath which the
triumph passed.
But as permanent memorial of
the victory or achievement was de-
sired, 1t by and by occurred to the
friends and successors of the success
ful generals to rebuild these arches
in enduring marble. No longer did
they serve, as mere gates or entrance
ways; they were generally placed in
an isolated and a commanding posi-
ton, where. in solitary grandeur,
they testified through the centuries
to the glory of the commander and
incidentally commemorated the feats
of his soldiers. These triumphal
arches were purely an invention or
development of Rome.
The Arch OF Titus
One of the oldest of these memorial
arches now standing in Rome is that
of Titus, and it is distinctly a war
memorial. 1t was built in the First
Century of our era to commemorate
the victory of the Emperor Titus
over the Jews in the year 10 A. D. 1t
still bears on its side the sculptured
representation of the 7-branched
sacred candlestick of the Temple OF
Jerusalem, which Roman soldiers are
pictured as carrying away.
This arch stood on elevated ground
en- the Via Sacrs, and was built of
marble. In the Middle Ages the
.popes, less interested In the glory Of
the deeds of the empire than in their
own defense against the barbarian,
built this arch into a fort, with bat
tlments. and when it was, in our
time, finally dug out of this medieval
rubbish, 1t was found necessary to
reconstruct the arch.
But it was well restored, and in
the purity and simplicity of it's lines,
the perfect grace of it's form and of
Its decorative Corinthian columns, 1t
Is still. probably, the most beautiful
arch in existence, and one whose
suggestion, IL Boston's own memorial
Army and Navy Monument for the
present war takes the form of an
arch, will have to be considered by
our architects and artists.
The Arch of Constantine
Some of the arches built by Rome
were in her provinces. Some of these
were mere personal memorials, and
not in any true sense soldiers monu-
ments. But probably the most dis
tinguished arch in existence. in Rome
or elsewhere-the Arch of Constan-
tine-was always a war memorial,
for it commemorated the victory OF
Constantine. who had then espoused
Christianity according to the legend
as the result of the vision of the
Flaming Crosse over Maxentius. his
pagan rival for the imperial throne.
1t was erected in the Fourth Cen
tury of our era. and is generally ad-
judged inferior in design to the
many arches that preceded 1t. 1t is
still. however. a delight to the eyes
of the world. arising in its ornate
II
is rather strange that although COM
memorating the initial triumph OF
Christianity. it is essentially a pagan
memorial. and it invited the con-
robbed the column OF Trajan of
tempt of history because its builders
sculptures recording the deeds of
Romans in their battles with the
Dadans more than two centuries be-
fore, which were transferred to this
arch to describe-of course quite
falsely-the achievements of the first
Christian emperor in overthrowing
the champion of an effete paganism.
But artistic and traditional pagan
ism were still too powerful,> at the
time when the arch of Constantine
was built. to leave room for any
Christian symbolism on the memorial
and this in spite of the fact that
Constantine had already adopted the
iabarum, or sacred monogram of
Christ, as his emblem.
R0me's Forty Arches
1t is an almost staggering thought
that in the city of Rome at the
height of the Augustan age no fewer
than forty triumphal arches were
standing at one time. Rome was not
so large territorially as Boston, and
we can, perhaps, form some idea of
the effect of such condition by Inn
agining forty such arches. all about
as high as our tallest buildings,
scattered throughout modern