124 remembering constantine at the milvian bridge

Maximinus, recorded in Deaths but also perhaps publicized in orations,

may well have helped shape not only Constantine’s subsequent actions
but also his later memories about the battle at the Milvian Bridge. In
his memories Constantine was perhaps reacting to Lactantius’ account
by claiming that his own experiences had been much more impressive.

The Arch in Rome

Constantine spent the winters of 313–314 and 314–315 at Trier, pre-
cisely the period when Lactantius was collecting information, writing
Deaths, and perhaps delivering public lectures about the end of perse-
cution, the deaths of the persecutors, and, possibly, the emperor’s own
expedition into Italy. In the late spring of 315 Constantine started to
march south again into Italy. He entered Rome in mid-July and stayed
for slightly more than two months. This excursion was not another
invasion. Instead, he was returning to Rome to celebrate the tenth
anniversary of his accession. He also came to pay his respects to the
capital, its residents, and its senate.
During this visit Constantine joined in celebrating the dedication
of a large commemorative arch located on the street between the Pala-
tine and Caelian Hills, just south of the junction with Sacred Street,
which led west into the Forum. The Colosseum loomed nearby to the
northeast of the arch; a colossal bronze statue of the sun god Sol was
directly north of the arch; and to the northwest the Temple of Venus
and Roma presided on the Velian ridge. This imposing triple arch was
almost eighty-five feet wide, almost twenty-five feet deep, and almost
seventy feet high, and it consisted of a large central passageway flanked
by a smaller archway on each side. The elaborate decorations included
many panels and sculptures, of which some had been recycled from
earlier imperial monuments and others were new for this arch.
At the top the prominent dedicatory inscription was displayed in
the center of each long side of the hulking attic, flanked by panels
depicting the emperor performing various traditional activities. Large
statues of Dacian prisoners stood next to these top panels. Over the
side archways roundels depicted the emperor in scenes of hunting and
sacrifice. A frieze of six long panels encircled the arch and depicted