In the heart of ancient Rome, at the top of the Via Sacra, “The Sacred Road,” stands an ancient triumphal arch, with mysterious reliefs depicting a victory procession.
During the Middle Ages, it was called the Arch of the Seven Lamps, because of the seven-branched candelabra that can be seen among the reliefs. Today it is called the Arch of Titus, after the Roman emperor whom the monument honors.
For two thousand years, this arch has stood here, in the heart of Rome. Sometimes in splendid isolation, sometimes attached to a tower, or a monastery, sometimes as a ruin where the slightest gust of wind could cause it to collapse.
But for some reason, the arch has always been saved at the last moment.
Perhaps it is because its images are like a time travel into our past.
In The Arch of Titus, Lena Einhorn moves through these eras in eight tales. Tales like the one about rebel Simon bar Giora and survivor Josephus Flavius. Tales about Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus, about poet Dante, about Swedish queen Christina, about Italian dictator Mussolini.
The world and humanity are changing. The stones and their testimonies remain.
