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Study for the Arch of Titus
Nero died in the year 68.
 Flavians
    Vaspasian 69-79
    Titus 79-81
    Domitian 81-96
 To Podium
 Sol
To Circus Maximus
To Stairs Study
Shrine of Murcia
 Semi-circular End
The Extension Structure
 
It has been argued that Trajan coins depict a single Arch. While there may have been a single Arch at some time in the past, and an Arch was removed for the procession of Nero from the south into the Circus, Domitian created the Titus monuments and the Arch in the Circus well before the time of Trajan. The Arch of Titus had three bays in the time of Severus and at the time of the Luni Mosaic. Therefore, the Arch in the Circus would seem to have been a three-bay arch at the time of the creation of all later coins regardless of artist's interpretation.

In building his Rome model, Gismonodi could not have referenced the Luni mosaic; as it was discovered sometime later.

The Luni Mosaic appears to have an arch depicted in the entablature of the attic - a possible solution for the coins. Of course, the coins show a side view and could easily be depicting the single large center arch, regardless.

It would be interesting to know what had been in place between the time of Nero and the time of Domitian, some 25 years. The new Arch of Titus would have been a certain contrast.


Gismanodi Model in Rome

Bigot's Model

 

Arch of Titus in the Forum

Arch of Titus in the Circus
~Luni Mosaic~

Symmetry from horizontal layers flip.
Basic Outline is seen according to the Luni Mosaic


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copyright © 2008 Robert Cole

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To Podium
Sol
To Circus Maximus
To Stairs Study
Shrine of Murcia
Semi-circular End
The Extension Structure
Ben Damsky's coin image kindly provided by BEN DAMSKY
Model of Rome, Museo della Civilia Romana, Rome of the Caesars, Dal Maso. Scale of seating (after P. Ciancio Rossetto) from ERRATA to the text and reprint of the Luni Mosaic reproduced from Roman Circuses, Arenas for Chariot Racing, Humphrey, John H. 1986; permissions from University of California Press. Kugelspiel pictures are extracted from Porphyrius the Charioteer, Alan Cameron, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Oxford University 1973