You see the inscription here. It's interesting because it tells us that it was the senate and people of Rome. The SPQR. The senate and people of Rome who put this up to the divine Titus. Divo Tito, as you can see here. And the divine Titus who was the son. There is an F for filius right over here. The son, of the divine Vespasian. So the divinity of both of these men, both of whom were made gods at their death, is alluded to here. So the senate and people of Rome, put this up to the divine Titus, the son of the divine Vespasian. And if, and if you, you can see all of these little holes that are located in some of the letters. The reason that those is that those were where bronze letters were actually attached. So these letters were inscribed and then bronze letters were attached to them so that the inscription would gleam in the sunshine and so that you could see it from considerable distance. Down below the inscription plaque, we see the freeze which purports to represent this great procession or parade that took place when, when Titus returned from Jerusalem and had his triumphal procession along the sacred way and, and up to the Capitoline hill and the Temple of Jupiter. And you can see that the artist has has made the figures fairly small, but at the same time has, has made each one distinct from the other, so that this is more readable from the ground. And then below that, the decoration of the keystone. And then in either spandrel, or triangular area at either side of the keystones, we see victories, flying female figures of victory, that are of course making reference in a general way to this great victory that, that Titus had over Jerusalem. Important from the architectural standpoint are the columns and especially the capitals. I show you a detail of one of the preserved, there are two again, but one of the two preserved capitals from this side of the arch. The arch, the side that faces the Colosseum and you see it here. And it's a distinctive capital that we have not seen before. It's a capital that actually combines the Corinthian and the Ionic because you can see the Corinthian acanthus leaves growing up here. Flowers as we see in, in the usual Corinthian order, and then prominent volutes of the Ionic order up above. We refer to this as the composite capital, the composite capital. Combining Corinthian and Ionic. We see it quite infrequently, in Roman architecture, but we do see it on occasion so it's good for you to know about. In the center of the bay I mentioned that there were two great figural panels. And these figural panels make reference to to Titus' victory over Jerusalem, to this important event, from the point of view of the Flavians, that gave their dynasty legitimacy. And we see one of those here. We actually see an image of Titus in his chariot and he's riding alone without his father. He's riding along in his chariot with the exception of a female figure who accompanies him. And you can see that female figure is winged and she is a personification of victory, so she is heralding the victory that he has had in Jerusalem. And in fact, she holds a laurel wreath above his head, crowning him because of that victory. The chariot is led by four horses who are whizzing by as you can see here. And they are led at the front by a woman in a helmet and military costume. Who might well be Roma, the personification of Rome herself and what is she doing? She's welcoming Titus back to Rome after his great victory over Jerusalem. Over here two other figures, a ma-, two other male figures, both headless today. But one of them in a toga and the other figure with a bare chest, and a mantle wrapped over the lower part of his body. Because we have the same figures in other reliefs we know, despite the fact that they are headless, that these are personifications of the Senate. There's the dressed person, the person in toga is the Senate, the ge-n-i-u-s, like genius. The genius senatus, or the spirit of the senate. And this, the genius populi Romani, which was the, the representative of the Roman people. So keep in mind, again, it was the senate and people of Rome that put up the arch to Titus as the son of the divine Vespasian. And we see themselves, or their personifications, represented in this scene. More interesting from our standpoint, vis-à-vis architecture, is the other scene on the other side of the central bay. Where we see the Roman soldiers, or a group of Roman soldiers, bringing back spoils, booty, trophies from Jerusalem. Things that they have stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. And you can see the famous seven-branched candelabrum that they are carrying here. The weight is so great that it is that there, there shoulders bend under that weight. And we also see them with a table over here that has a number of sacrificial implements and so on that were taken also from the temple in Jerusalem. So they carry these along in this parade for the people to see. For those in Rome to see to get a, a real, a palpable sense of what it meant to have this victory, and of the spoils that are being brought back. And you can see that the, this is represented very illusionistically. And you can see that they seem to be walking through an arch that is also represented here, a very interesting scene indeed, and you'll recall what, what they did with those foils. They took those spoils, and they put them in the Templum Pacis that we talked about last time, or Forum Pacis that we talked about last time, that served essentially as a kind of museum where the people of Rome could see these images. So once again, the Flavians always showing an affinity for, and an interest in the people of the city, the people of the city that they were trying, of course, to court favor from. So, we're seeing Domitian who, again, was the commissioner of this monument continuing on in the same vein as Vespasian and Titus, honoring this victory of that gave legitimacy to the Flavian dynasty, but also always acknowledging and thinking of the impact that is going to have on the senate and the people of Rome. The Central Bay, if you stand right below it and look up, you will see the vault of the interior of the arch. And you can see that it has a coffered ceiling, as we've seen so often in Roman monuments. Quite well preserved with the coffers and then the rosettes in the center. And if I show you another detail of that, you'll get an even better sense of it and also of how ornate the decoration is. We've talked about the fact that the Flavians had a particular interest in very ornate decoration. And you can see that as well here. In fact, the drill has been so, used so extensively that it almost dematerializes the vault I think, in a very interesting way, creating a kind of overall tapestry of dark and light. And then in the center, a panel that is surrounded by a garland. And in the center of that panel, a depiction, you could probably barely see it from where you sit, but a depiction of Titus being carried to heaven on the back of an eagle. In this case, Titus is not in military dress, but in a toga. He's on the back of an eagle with outstretched wings, and that eagle is taking him up to the heavens. What this is is a representation of apotheosis, a-p-o-t-h-e-o-s-i-s, apotheosis or divinization. The divinization, because the Romans believed that they could make humans into gods after their death. The making of Titus into a god after his death and the depiction of, the material depiction of him actually being carried to heaven on the back of an eagle. A very powerful image, and the fact that it is in arch vault of this vault here, has lead scholars to suggest that it is possible that the arch of Titus in Rome served as Titus' tomb. And that seems to be corroborated by the fact that behind the attic, or inside the attic of the arch, is a staircase as well as a chamber. And I show both of them to you here. A spiral staircase and a chamber. A chamber that might well have served as a burial chamber for an urn of Titus. The urn was never found, was not found in the excavation of this monument, so we can't prove this. But I think it's very possible that this arch served as a tomb for the emperor Titus.
