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Trajan's Column
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A recent photograph of Trajan's Column.
It was originally surrounded by other buildings on the Forum
of Trajan, but as they have all disappeared, it now stands
alone.
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| Behind the entrance to the
Forum of Trajan stood Trajan's triumphal Column. This column was built
to celebrate the triumph of Trajan and his army over Dacia, which
was in modern Romania. On this 30 metre high column a report of the
two campaigns against these Dacians,one from 101 to 103 and one from
107 to 108 A.D., is sculptured. It is some sort of comic of sculptures
and painted people and environments. The depth of the relief is five
centimetre. The height of the upwards spiraling frieze is 91 centimetres
at the bottom and 120 centimetres at the top, this to compensate that
you had to look upward to the top of the Column. A total of 2500 people
is displayed on this column. After his death the ashes of emperor
Trajan were placed in the base of the column. |
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Photograph of a detail of the reliefs at
the bottom of Trajan's Column: the adlocutio-scene. Trajan
speaks to speaks to his men from a platform. Because the soldiers
are portrayed from many different sites, it seems like there
is a lot of depth in this relief. In truth, its depth is only
five centimetre.
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| This column was built to emphasize
the virtus of the emperor: the might and the courage that also aplied
to the entire Roman empire. Therefore the column was a kind of propaganda
for the might of the Roman empire, of which every citizen would want
to be part of after seeing such impressive works.
Because of the height of the Column, it is quite hard to see what
was portrayed in the top. It helped that the frieze was higher in
the top and that is was painted, but to see it really well, on should
stand on the balcony around the Column.
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Originally Trajan's Column stood
between the other buildings of the Forum of Trajan, as visible in
this picture. To the left stands the entrance, right behind the Column
one of the two libraries and to the right a wall of the Basilica Ulpia. |
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| The reason why, unlike the
rest of the Forum of Trajan, this Column still stands, is that it
was often visited by Christian tourists during the Middle Ages. In
1162 a law was even accepted that damaging the Column would be punished
with death. In the 16e century pope Sixtus V placed a statue of saint
Peter on top ot the Column, where once a statue of Trajan stood.stond. |
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