The Five Column Monument

Arch of Constantine, oratio detail 

The Five Column Monument, also known as the Decennalia Monument, commemorated the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Tetrarchy.  The Tetrarchy--the rule of four emperors--was instituted by Diocletian around 293 CE and lasted until 313 CE. Very little evidence of the monument, which was built in 303, remains. However, it is depicted in the background of one of the reliefs on the Arch of Constantine. The relief is of an oratio scene in which Constantine addresses the Senate and the Roman People. Constantine is giving his speech from the Rostra, or the speaking platform, but visible in the background are the five statue-topped columns of the Decennalia Monument. One statue is identifiable as Jupiter, and the other four probably were statues of the four Tetrarchs: Diocletian, Constantius Chlorus, Maximian, and Galerius1. The other remnant of the Five Column Monument is one of the bases of the columns. On the front of the base are two victories carrying a shield. Meanwhile, the right side has a depiction of a sacrifice to Mars, and the left has a procession of Senators, perhaps celebrating the decennalia. Finally the back shows an emperor being crowned surrounded by the traditional symbols of Rome and the Empire2.

 EH

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1.I.M. Ferris, The Arch of Constantine: inspired by the divine (Stroud: Amberley, 2013), 80-81.

2. Fred Kleiner,  A History of Roman Art (Victoria: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007), 313-316.