View Page: O Divine Titus! A Roman Triumph

	O Divine Titus! A Roman Triumph
	written by zihengxu / 09.05.2004

Section Six

6 of 7

Personal Observations

http://members.tripod.com/romeartlover/Arco.html

Arch of Titus

The highlighted part appears in several other arches. Its symbolism is unclear. Interested students could try to look up the information.

The sack of Jerusalem had such an incredible traumatic effect both in magnitude and in length. Two thousand years is a long time: empires and dynasties flourish and collapse; religion lived on. Rome continued in the world of religion: Emperors became Popes, Senators became Bishops, political empires turned into religious regimes. The power of religion must not be underestimated.

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My own research had shown that the seven-branched golden Menorah was the core relic for Jewish faith. The Holy Book prohibited the remake of seven-branched holy Menorah with any material, yet Professor Michael and Debra both told me the holy Menorah had nine branches.

Confused, I looked up more information: the Menorah in Solomon's Temple was originally seven branched, but in re-dedication of the Temple the new Menorah had nine branches. Legend has it that the candles of Menorah lasted eight days, even though supposedly they were meant to last for only one day. So the new Menorah had nine branches, where one central branch was used to light the other eight. The name of the central branch is Shamash, name for the Jewish God of Sun.

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Out of curiosity I also found an interesting decoration pattern that appeared not only on the Arch of Titus but also appeared on several other triumphal arches as well. None of the sources I read about took note on this pattern, and I want to find out if this pattern really expressed any specific connotation, and if so, what did it mean? Why was it there in this way?

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