The meaning of Arches in Antiquity

In this studio I did research on the meaning of arches in antiquity. Firstly together with Harm Janssen on the Arch of Titus and secondly and indepent on the city Timgad.

Arch of Titus
The Roman development of the arch as an architectural element is of major significance. One of the principal factors in this evolution was the Roman triumphal arch. These structures while having an autonomous functional value as a gate, have a monumental and commemorative character. A structure such as the Arch of Titus became an important symbol of the glory of the Roman state.

A triumph was honored with a triumphal march. The ceremony began outside in the Campus Martius. The parade entered then the city through the Porta Triumphalis towards the Capitoline Hill to the Temple of Jupiter. On the route the main arches were passed. The ceremony of a triumph lasts just a few days, but the arch prolongs in the memory for centuries.


Timgad
Timgad is built entirely from scratch. Like many provincial towns it is built with a grid-like plan. The first settlement was small. The ‘colonia’ of Trajan appears to have been an almost square (330x355m). Timgad was entered by three principal gates which stood in the middle of their respective sides. The east and west arches point to the spot where the sun rises above the horizon on the dawn of the birthday of the emperor Trajan, September 18.

Beyond the geometrical point the ground began to rise, and here, dominating the rest of town, were sited the principal public buildings, the forum and basilica, theatre and temples. Apart from the public complex and five smaller bath buildings the entire available space was given over to the houses of the settlers.

Soon after the middle of the second century it was more than half a mile in width from East to West, and its extent from North to South. And as it expanded, it broke loose from the chess-board pattern and the first walls of Timgad were overrun by the expanding town. It’s a direct result of a rapid increase in population.

The city enjoyed a peaceful existence for the first several hundred years. Since its destruction at the time of the Arab invasion of a.d. 692 it has never been the habitation of man. The city is discovered in late 19th century. It has passed twelve centuries in a great silence.

sources Arch of Titus
Classical Architecture, A complete handbook, Robert Adam
The Architecture of Rome, Stefan Grundmann, referred to M. Pfanner, Titusbogen
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Samuel Ball Platner
The Architecture of Europe, the ancient classical and byzantine world 3000 BC - AD 1453, Doreen Yarwood

sources Timgad
Ancient Town-Planning, by F. Haverfield
Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson
About Algeria, Charles Thomas-Stanford