8 The author seems to have been an eyewitness. This lengthy and important record of the Roman ritual likely dates to within a decade of the triumph itself. 7 Josephus, the Jewish historian, gives a description of the parade in book 7 of the Jewish War. In this article I focus on a literary account of the triumph, which, like the carvings in the Arch of Titus, is an artful representation of the event. The arch is thus a sculptured memory of a ritualized memory of war. Like an old-fashioned newsreel, the set pieces of combat broadcast an official record of the war to the Roman audience “on the home front.” 6 The ritual of the Roman triumph created a memory of the First Jewish War-one preserved in the Arch of Titus, which was erected in Rome a decade later. Perhaps the most astonishing element of the triumph was the series of giant, moving stages of battle scenes in tableaux. So too the triumph gave Romans a view of the defeated foe, as captives from Judaea were driven before the chariots of Vespasian and Titus. Romans welcomed home the infantry and joined in thanking the gods for victory. 5 This menorah and other spoils from Jerusalem were paraded through the streets. Chiseled into a panel in the archway is an image of Roman soldiers bearing a large menorah, one of the objects taken from the Jewish temple of Jerusalem.

Like the nearby Colosseum, it is a monument to the First Jewish War. Evidence of the triumph of Vespasian and Titus, held in the summer of 71 CE, can be seen today on the Arch of Titus in Rome. Romans had a distinctive ritual for commemorating military success: the triumph. Sacred vessels from the temple were brought by Titus to Rome, where the reconquest of the province was celebrated in a public spectacle.

Amid the chaos of the attack, the great temple of Jerusalem was consumed by fire. After a five-month siege, Roman soldiers invaded the city of Jerusalem in August of 70 CE, killing or taking captive the Jewish inhabitants. Titus, Vespasian’s son, then ascended to command the army and eventually dealt the mortal blow to the insurrection. Two years later, Vespasian became emperor of Rome. 3 As a Roman general, he led the first push against the revolt in 67 CE. It was built with funds from the spoils of the conflict in the province of Judaea, the so-called First Jewish War. The Colosseum, or the Flavian Amphitheater, was named after the dynasty founded by the first Flavian emperor, Vespasian. The structure was already a symbol of the past when it was completed in 80 CE. The structure looms ahead as a vast, cylindrical testament to the Roman past, encircled by the traffic of cars, buses, and trains. Is it the ruins alone or Rome’s jumble of classical forms and modern life that dazzles the tourist? 1 For some visitors the first close view of the Colosseum comes after emerging from the underground metro stop and across a busy street.

Call of duty ed vanderhart