Helloe

Arch of Constantine, Rome

Tanya McMillion #2010

History of Architecture

Mon/Wed 6:30-8:00pm

There is a lot that can be learned from architecture from our past. Every structure had its own purpose and story of its origin. The battle at the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE was the breaking point in Constantine's quest for power. He had been proclaimed Augustus by the troops in Britain in 306 CE, after the death of his father in York, and even though he had no legal right to that title, he refused to relinquish it. Maxentius also claimed the title of Augustus of the western empire. The conflict finally resulted in the battle of the Milvian Bridge just North of Rome, when Constantine's army defeated the numerically superior, but less experienced troops of Maxentius. Maxentius fell to his death while trying to flee across the Tiber River, as a temporary bridge made of boats collapsed under him and his troops.

Constantine entered Rome victorious, and because of this victory the senate awarded him a triumphal arch. "Construction began immediately, and the arch was finished in a few years, to be consecrated in 315/316 CE on the tenth anniversary of Constantine's rise to power." During that time, arches were built to either celebrate a triumph or in memorial of someone in power. The arch is said to be one of the greatest inventions