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Trajan’s Column is a monument in Rome raised in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan’s Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which commemorates Trajan’s victory in the Dacian Wars. 6
The Forum of Trajan has a more complicated foundation than the other Imperial Forums. The piazza is closed, with the Basilica Ulpia. At the back of this the Trajan column was elevated between the two Libraries, and it was believed that the complex concluded with the Temple dedicated to Divo Trajan. One entered the piazza through a curved arch passageway, a type of arch of triumph, in the center of a convex wall decorated with jutting columns. 13
ARAAH is divided chronologically into four sections with a short prologue on the Republic. The Empire’s Beginnings and Establishment”; A.D. 96-192, “The Height of the Empire: From Trajan to the Antonines”; A.D. 192-305, “Crisis in the Empire: From the Severans to the Tetrarchy”; A.D. 305-565, “The Fall of the Empire: Epilogue to an Ancient World.” The contents are laid out in a very attractive table at the beginning of the book. In the appendices are two maps, one of the Roman Empire under Trajan and the other of Fourth-Century Rome (A.D., although it is not so labeled), an Index of Places and an Index of Names. 40
Caesar returned to Rome, a victorious imperator himself. He built his own Forum to supplant the Roman Forum of the Republic. It included a new Curia and porticus, following the traditions of the Republic. It was in his choice of a temple for his porticus that Caesar’s divine aspirations became visible. Before his battle with Pompey, he had vowed to build a temple to Venus Victorix. Instead he chose to build his temple to Venus Genetrix, Venus the Mother, suggesting that Venus was the mother of the Julian clan and that he therefore was semi-divine. An idea perhaps planted by Cleopatra? Caesar also chose to keep the title of imperator as he attempted to take power from the Senate. He was assassinated on the infamous Ides of March in 44 BCE. 42
Trajan’s column is a work both of monumental greatness (Constantine is said to have sulked for three days after seeing Trajan’s forum and column, for none of his own works could surpass it) and a work that demonstrates the evolution of the Romans’ Greek artistic heritage. The Romans used Greek techniques and proportions to portray their characters and yet introduced their own enhancements – figures had grooves around them to enhance their relief and background details were sunken into the surface to give a greater feeling of depth. The Romans used Greek themes – the battle of the civilized and the barbaric – in new ways to express their own world views. Finally, the Romans moved away from both the Greek humanist ideal and their own earlier realism to portray people as both individuals and embodiments of idealized virtues. 4
Today the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus is a ruin on the banks of the Tiber River. Built of concentric rings of Roman concrete, it contained urns of ashes from his cremation and also of his family members. Professor Senseney said the mausoleum may have been modeled on that created for Alexander the Great. The circular mausoleum shape of imperial Rome also may have influenced early Christian architecture, which used a similar form for funerary monuments ranging from the Mausoleum of Constantia in Rome to S. Vitale in Ravenna. 42
The time of the conquest of Dacia by Trajan is the only known instance of the Roman army adapting personal equipment while on campaign, it seems likely that this was a response to this deadly weapon. Roman legionaries had reinforcing iron straps applied to their helmets – it is clear that these are late modifications because they are roughly applied across existing embossed decoration. Roman armour of the time left limbs unprotected; Trajan introduced the use of leg and arm protectors (greaves and manica). 2
Imperial Rome is still visible in the Rome of today. Two of the more interesting elements were created by the Emperor Trajan, his column and the Basilica Ulpia. Trajan’s Column is adjacent to the Basilica Ulpia and the Market of Trajan. It was built in 113, about 100 years after the Emperor Augustus died. 42
The exact height of the column was fixed on for a special reason, viz., to show the height of the original spit of hill joining the Quirinal and Capitoline Hills, which was cut away to make room for the forum in which the column is built. A�fact commemorated in the inscription on the base. These measurements are those of the original column, and are given in preference to those of the cast in the Museum, which is made up of a number of pieces, no doubt joined with certain inaccuracies, and of which portions may be warped or twisted. 12
Stone and marble has also begun to crumble at an accelerated rate. The decay is linked to an increase in heating – Rome has little industrial air pollution. Until about 50 years ago, few Roman buildings had heating systems, and Romans used to shiver through their winters; even high officials had to wear their overcoats in the office. The central heating that has made the winter tolerable for Romans has the made the air unhealthy for their ancient monuments. 30
The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is a giant amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome. Originally capable of seating 45,000 to 50,000 spectators, it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It was built on a site just east of the Roman Forum, with construction starting between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian. The amphitheatre, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire, was completed in 80 AD. It remained in use for nearly 500 years with the last recorded games being held there as late as the 6th century, well after the traditional date of the fall of Rome in 476. 27
The pedestal of the statue is round, and stands on a double round offset or base ornamented with moulding to each part. It is topped by mouldings, and on the upper surface supported the ancient statue of the Emperor Trajan in bronze, holding a lance in his left hand, which was raised, and a golden orb in his right, in which the ashes of the emperor were placed according to a special privilege granted by the Senate, as intramural burial was contrary to the laws of Rome. 12
The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum or Forum Magnum) was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place. Here the communal hearth was located. Sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level of the forum in early Republican times. Originally it had been marshy ground, which was drained. Its final travertine paving, still to be seen, dates from the reign of Augustus. 27
Trajan’s column also contains within its reliefs a few oddities. One group of Auxilia appear wearing animal skins over their helmets. The attitude of their arms and the regular oval shields they carry implies they are not standard bearers; however to suggest otherwise is tantamount to treason. So who are they, another error or an attempt to recreate Republican Velites perhaps? 44
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- penelope.uchicago.edu
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- buscagne.blogspot.com
- erminestreetguard.co.uk
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