[2] According to Gregor Kalas, the main proponent of mirrored Five-Columns monuments, the two speaker's platforms framed a visual link at opposite ends of the Forum that may have served to legitimize the Tetrarchic transformation of the principate created by Augustus.

[2] This monument was dedicated during Diocletian's first visit to Rome in 303 CE during his twentieth year as emperor, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the younger Caesares of the Tetrarchy who would ultimately succeed him.

[3][4][5] The rescheduling of Caesares Constantius and Galerius' celebration from 302, the end of their ninth year as was customary, to 303 reiterates the importance of synchronicity for the Tetrarchic anniversaries.

[6][page needed] After Pietro Rosa's excavations in the Forum between 1872 and 1874, only some brickwork from the southeast corner of the eastern Rostra survives, bearing remnants of fittings for ship's prows.

At present, the sole surviving column base has been placed on a repurposed brick plinth not far from its original location, near the Arch of Septimius Severus to the left of the Via Sacra.

[1] Fragments of columns that are presumed to have belonged to this monument suggest undecorated monoliths of pink Aswan granite topped with porphyry statues.

[4] Approximate measurements have been calculated based on the surviving marble plinth, with the tops of the columns reaching 13 meters above the Rostra floor, excluding the statue heights.

[6][page needed] This northern side faces the via Sacra,[5] and in its center, two winged Victories hold a shield with the inscription “Caesarum decennalia feliciter,” celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Caesares.

[6][page needed] This western side depicts a scene of preparations of a bull, sheep, and pig for sacrificial offering, in a ritual called the suovetaurilia.

A symmetrical organization has been proposed, with the columnar statues of the Augusti immediately flanking that of Jupiter, and metaphorically introducing the exterior Caesares, in what Kalas believes could represent a peaceful transition of power from senior to junior successors.