- Period
- 5th or 6th c.
- Type
- Free-standing ceremonial arch
- Capitals
- Corinthian, in two tiers
- Stands on
- The processional way, before the market court
The arch stands on the processional way and marks the threshold. Before it you are walking; after it you are arriving.
It is built in the known order: two lateral columns, each crowned with a Corinthian capital, and above them two smaller columns, each likewise Corinthian. It is dated to the fifth or sixth century.
Its presence says something specific about how the builders understood what they were making. This was not a monastery that happened to receive visitors. It was designed from the road up as a destination, with the sequence of arrival staged in stone.