Arch of Titus

[3] Although the panels are not explicitly stated as illustrating this event, they closely parallel the narrative of the Roman procession described a decade prior in Josephus' The Jewish War.

[10] The medieval Latin travel guide Mirabilia Urbis Romae noted the monument, writing: "the arch of the Seven Lamps of Titus and Vespasian; [where Moses' candlestick is having seven branches, with the Ark, at the foot of the Cartulary Tower"].

[11][12] During the Middle Ages, the Frangipani family added a second story to the vault, converting it into a fortified tower;[13] beam holes from the construction remain in the panels.

[15] In 1716, Adriaan Reland published his De spoliis templi Hierosolymitani in arcu Titiano Romae conspicuis, in English: "The spoils of the temple of Jerusalem visible on the Arch of Titan at Rome".

It was one of the first buildings sustaining a modern restoration, starting with Raffaele Stern in 1817 and continued by Valadier under Pius VII in 1821, with new capitals and with travertine masonry, distinguishable from the original marble.

[13][16] At an unknown date, a local ban on Jews walking under the arch was placed on the monument by Rome's Chief Rabbinate; this was rescinded on the foundation of the State of Israel in 1947, and at a Hanukkah event in 1997 the change was made public.

[23] Other sacred objects being carried in the triumphal procession are the Gold Trumpets, the fire pans for removing the ashes from the altar, and the Table of Showbread.

"[26]The opposite side of the Arch of Titus received new inscriptions after it was restored during the pontificate of Pope Pius VII by Giuseppe Valadier in 1821.

ANNO · SACRI · PRINCIPATVS · EIVS · XXIIII (Insigne religionis atque artis, monumentum, vetustate fatiscens: Pius Septimus, Pontifex Maximus, novis operibus priscum exemplar imitantibus fulciri servarique iussit.

Anno sacri principatus eius XXIV), which means (This) monument, remarkable in terms of both religion and art, had weakened from age: Pius the Seventh, Supreme Pontiff, by new works on the model of the ancient exemplar ordered it reinforced and preserved.

Front view
Detail of the central soffit coffers
South inner panel, close-up of relief showing spoils from the fall of Jerusalem
North inner panel, relief of Titus as triumphator
The inscription
Arch of Titus, photographed around 1880.