Arch of Constantine, RomeThere is much to learn from the architecture of our past. Each structure had its own purpose and origin story. The Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 CE was the breaking point in Constantine's quest for power. He had been proclaimed Augustus by British troops in 306 CE, after his father's death at York, and although he had no legal right to this title, he refused to relinquish it. Maxentius also claims the title of Augustus of the Western Empire. The conflict ultimately culminated in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge just north of Rome, when Constantine's army defeated Maxentius' numerically superior, but less experienced, troops. Maxentius fell to his death while trying to flee across the Tiber, as a temporary bridge made of boats collapsed beneath him and his troops. Constantine entered Rome victorious and, because of this victory, the Senate granted him a triumphal arch. "Construction began immediately and the arch was completed within a few years, to be dedicated in 315/316 CE on the tenth anniversary of Constantine's accession to power." At this time, arches were built either to celebrate a triumph or in memory of a person in power. The arch is considered one of the greatest inventions of Roman architecture. The largest and best preserved of Rome's triumphal arches, the "Arch of Constantine", generally considered the most flamboyant due to the use of colored stones, was erected to celebrate Constantine's victory over his co -Emperor Maxentius, in 312 AD. The Arch of Constantine is located in the Colosseum Valley and stands near the west side of the Colosseum, at the start of the road that leads south between the Palatine and Caelian Hills to the Circus Maximus. Despite its mixed origins, the arch is distinguished by its architectural harmony and pure proportions. The Arch of Constantine is the largest of three such structures that exist in Rome today. “The other two are the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Septimius Severus, both located in the neighboring Forum Romanum. » The Arch of Constantine is a three-way arch measuring 21 m high, 25.7 m wide and 7.4 m deep. The central arcade is 11.5 m high and 6.5 m wide, while the side arcades measure 7.4 m × 3.4 m. Eight detached Corinthian columns, four on each side, stand on pedestals on the side... middle of paper ... added in place of earlier sentence). The deity on the coins of Constantine is often Sol Invictus according to the coin inscriptions. The arch was built in honor of Constantine's victory. The relics and reliefs of the arch are poorly sculpted: "The victories on the spandrels of the central arch, the river gods on the side arches, the medallions of the rising and setting sun at the ends, the Victories on the bases of the giallo columns , and the bands on the side arches are all from the time of Constantine and show the dismally degraded state into which Roman art had sunk by the beginning of the 4th century AD. The few reliefs made for the monument are recognizable by their hasty execution, their rigid formality and their lack of finish in Antiquity, while also considering that it is an arch through which the road did not pass . Even though the art is not of the highest quality as seen in other artifacts of the past, it still tells a story. The arch itself is a monument to a leader while the artwork covering it conveys the victories won, the battles lost and the world around it, a story that is still told around the world, simply from the view of this magnificent structure..