Arco di Traiano

Benevento's Arch of Trajan stands on the route of the ancient Via Traiana. Its attic inscription dates the monument to 114 CE, commemorating the emperor Trajan and the road project that connected Benevento with Brindisi.

Why it matters

Commissioned by the Roman Senate, the arch marked the completion of the Via Traiana in 109 CE. The road offered a route from Benevento toward Brindisi and the East. The monument remains in its historic urban setting, and its marble reliefs preserve an extensive programme of imperial imagery.

What to notice

The two principal facades present different themes. Four bands of relief alternate across each face, framed by fluted semicolumns with Corinthian capitals. The arch's proportions have been compared with those of the Arch of Titus in Rome. The attic may once have carried bronze statues, though their original appearance is uncertain.

Published readings associate the city-facing side with peace and the emperor's care for citizens, and the outer side with war and imperial policy toward the provinces. Interpretations of individual scenes are not settled. Together, the reliefs express the authority of imperial Rome and Trajan's policies toward Italy.

Context and history

In late antiquity, the arch was incorporated into Benevento's defensive walls and served as a gate. From the eighth century it is documented as Porta Aurea, or Golden Gate; the name has been linked either to the richness of its decoration or, by analogy, to Jerusalem's Golden Gate.

Artists including Polidoro da Caravaggio, Giuliano da Sangallo, Sebastiano Serlio, Giovanni Paolo Pannini and Piranesi recorded the monument. In 1854 it was separated from the buildings that had grown around it, and later in the nineteenth century surrounding defensive structures were removed. A Lapidarium beside the arch displays nine archaeological objects.