Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus)

Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus) Review

Standing at a slightly elevated position at the northern approach to the Palatine Hill on the Via Sacra, this triumphal arch was erected in AD 81 to celebrate the sack of Jerusalem 10 years earlier, after the great Jewish revolt. The view of the Colosseum from the arch is superb, and reminds us that it was the emperor Titus who helped finish the vast amphitheater, begun earlier by his father, Vespasian. Under the arch are the two great sculpted reliefs, both showing scenes from Titus's triumphal parade along this very Via Sacra, including the spoils of war plundered from Herod's Temple—a gigantic seven-branched candelabrum (menorah) and silver trumpets. During his sacking of Jerusalem, Titus killed or deported most of the Jewish population, thus initiating the Jewish diaspora, an event that would have historical consequences for millennia.