What Roman triumphal arch in the Roman Forum was built in 203 AD for Septimius Severus?

The Roman triumphal arch in the Roman Forum built in 203 AD for Septimius Severus was the Arch of Septimius Severus.

The white-marble arch stood at the Forum’s northwestern end, near the foot of the Capitoline Hill. It commemorated Septimius Severus’s victories in the Parthian campaigns of 194–195 and 197–199, celebrating the emperor together with his sons Caracalla and Geta.

A frequent confusion is to identify it with the Arch of Constantine or the Arch of Titus. Those are also famous Roman arches, but they belong to different emperors and commemorative programs. The Arch of Constantine, for example, was dedicated more than a century later, in 315 AD, while the Arch of Titus celebrates the capture of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

The monument also preserves a lesson in imperial politics. After Geta was murdered by Caracalla, Geta’s name and images were removed from public monuments in an act of damnatio memoriae. The arch therefore records both Severan military propaganda and a later struggle within the ruling family.