Arch of Trajan

The best-preserved triumphal arch of the Roman world, and its clearest piece of imperial storytelling. Raised around AD 114 to mark Trajan's new road to the port of Brindisi, the arch is carved on every face with reliefs that read like a programme: Trajan building roads and harbours, feeding children, subduing provinces, welcomed by the gods. It is propaganda in marble, but exceptionally fine, and because Benevento never grew huge it survives almost undamaged, cleaner and more legible than Rome's larger arches. A Roman emperor's public relations, preserved whole.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.