[1] It was not intended to be a triumphal arch but to serve as a gateway in the Republican city wall of Rome.

[2] In 262, the equestrian (Marcus) Aurelius Victor,[3] member of the imperial household, rededicated the arch to the emperor Gallienus and his wife, Salonina, by replacing the original inscription.

[2] The purpose of the rededication was to balance the negative publicity which Gallienus had earned due to the various setbacks the Empire had suffered during his reign.

When these buildings were abandoned in late antiquity, the diaconia and monastery of San Vito took them over, as recorded in the Einsiedeln Itinerary.

The missing part of the inscription probably named the emperor Valerian, father of Gallienus who was captured by the Sassanid Persians in 260.