The Thematic Organization of the Panel Reliefs on the Arch of Galerius

Abstract

The thematic arrangement of the reliefs on two of the extant piers from the Arch of Galerius has eluded satisfactory analysis. Current interpretation is that the program consists of a chronicle of Galerius's campaign against the Persians on one pier and on a single face of the other, whose remaining faces bear a medley of triumphal images. It has not been realized that the imagery on the Arch of Galerius, just as on other triumphal monuments, is coordinated with its location on the Arch; it also reflects the location of the Arch in Galerius's palace complex. The bottom registers carry iconography typical of socles on other arches and lead the viewer into the interior of the Arch or toward the palace. Other panels on the facade are banal scenes which introduce the theme of a victory in the East. Scenes on the piers' inner faces are particularized and purposefully organized. On one pier episodes from the Persian campaign are to be read in descending sequences. However, on the pier closer to the palace the images follow a conceptual, rather than a chronological, development: the descending order moves from historical record to a paraphrase of history to a-historical imperial dogma. Such a hierarchical sequence of images acclaiming Galerius, placed alongside the narration of the events which made manifest his inalienable victoriousness, bears witness to the emergence of abstract and symbolic modes of thought.