The arch was erected in 216 in honour of the Emperor Caracalla, his mother Julia Domna, and his deceased father Septimius Severus.

In 1839, Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans saw the arch during an expedition and planned to have it transported to Paris, where he intended to have it erected with the inscription "L'Armée d'Afrique à la France" (The Army of Africa, to France).

[1] The arch, with a single span, reaches a height of 12.5 m, a width on 11.6 m and a depth of 3.9 m. On both sides of the span on the pylons are niches, each framed by a pair of Corinthian columns on pedestals, with smooth drums, detached from the wall.

Each pair of columns supports an entablature, which is surmounted in turn by a small aedicula, with a pediment, reaching to the top of the attic.

On top of the attic, three bases remain, which originally supported statues of the members of the imperial family.