Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Roman Archaeologists Discover Second Arch Of Titus

Archaeologists in Rome have discovered the remains of a second Arch of Titus commemorating the siege of Jerusalem by Roman emperor Titus in the 1st century C.E.

Like the original Arch of Titus, it was built around 82 C.E. by Domitian, the younger brother and successor to Titus as the leader of the Roman empire. The second arch was located less than a mile away from the first one.

According to a Haaretz interview with lead archaeologist Marialetizia Buonfiglio, it was rare for Roman leaders to build two monuments to the same war. Domition may have built the second arch as a way to boast of his power after Rome had just weathered a devastating fire and the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

The original arch of Titus is one of the most iconic depictions of Jewish history in the world. Located on the Via Sacra in Rome, it includes a detailed relief of the siege of Jerusalem.

A menorah on the arch was used as a model for the official symbol of Israel. Until the founding of Israel in 1948, rabbis prohibited Jews from walking under the arch.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.