Throughout the Roman Empire there were more than 50,000 miles of roads. These roads led to the many different townships and outposts that comprised the 3,000 mile (in breadth) empire that the Romans had established. Something that I find very interesting about these many cities within the Roman Empire is the massive arches. I am not discussing the arches that one can see in the architectural style that the Romans used, but instead the massive arches that mark the cities as one enters. After visiting Volubilis in Morocco, where I saw a massive arch over the road, I wondered what its significance may be. As an observer I initially thought that arches such as this could be used to show a city's prominence but my curiosity pushed me to dive deeper into their purpose during the Roman era.
These arches are more accurately called triumphal arches. They had no real function other than the beautiful aesthetics and awe they provide to observers. Despite their lack in function, the arches were built deliberately. The intentions of these arches were to commemorate victories or ascensions to power by rulers (hence the name triumphal arches). They were commonly decorated with sculptures and even inscribed with brass letters. The arch I saw in Volubilis, called the arch of Caracalla, was built to honor the emperor Caracalla who is also know as Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus. He was born to a North African father and Syrian mother, and the arch was to honor not only his lineage to a North African but also his granting citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Overall, the triumphal arches were mere aesthetics used to glorify the Roman empire. What is interesting is that despite this glory and honor the arches symbolized, Rome ultimately fell. And as a result, these arches served the same purpose as what the St. Louis arch does today. To the individuals living after the fall of the Roman empire these arches were mere remnants of that era and, for us, they can be looked at as gateways marking the passage from the Roman era into the Middle Ages.
Cartwright, Mark. "Triumphal Arches."
www.ancient.eu, last modified December 31, 2012.
http://www.ancient.eu/Triumphal_Arch/.
Kolb, Frank P. "Caracalla."
Encyclapedia Britanica, last modified February 8, 2008.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caracalla.
Photo provided by Ben James, taken December 30, 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volubilis
I've never heard of these before! I wondered how many were left standing, so I looked it up and out of the 36 that were in Rome itself only 3 are left unfortunately. I liked the way your introduction was written.
ReplyDeleteI think it is really cool that you based your post off your travels. I also liked how you explained the history of that specific arch.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that you got to base your own blog from personal experiences. I envy you in wishing that I could see these w structures with my own eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting how you were able to incorporate personal experiences within your blog post. Having the experience of actually seeing these arches in person probably made it a lot more interesting to research. I also liked how you mentioned that even though these arches represented the glory and victories of Rome, that Rome still fell.
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