Arch of Titus

The Arch of Titus is a single-arched Roman triumphal monument standing on the Via Sacra at the eastern end of the Roman Forum in central Rome, erected shortly after AD 81 to commemorate Emperor Titus’s victories.

The arch is most famous for its richly carved inner relief panels showing a Roman triumphal procession carrying spoils from Jerusalem and for its dedicatory inscription on the attic; it is a well-preserved example of a Flavian-era honorific arch. Visitors commonly study the reliefs and the inscription while viewing the forum approach to the Palatine.

Domitian ordered the arch’s construction after the death of his brother Titus; it commemorates the suppression of the Jewish revolt and the capture of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The monument has been repaired and conserved several times since antiquity and has influenced later triumphal architecture in Europe.

The arch stands immediately adjacent to the Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum in Rome’s historic centre, on the route that led from the forum up to the Palatine Hill.

• Relief panels: The arch's central relief panels depict the Roman triumphal procession carrying spoils from the Temple in Jerusalem, including a large menorah that is widely recognised in studies of the Roman-Jewish wars.
• Best viewing time: Best detailed views of the reliefs are from the Via Sacra side in the morning light when the carved figures are most clearly modelled by shadow.