 Trajan's Column Trajan's Column commemorates the eponymous emperor's victory in the two Dacian wars (102-3; 105-6). The column, which was completed in 113, is almost all that is left standing of Trajan's Forum, the last of the great imperial fora to be built in ancient Rome. An inscription on the base states that the column was erected in honour of the emperor Trajan (r. 98-117) by the Senate and People of Rome (SENATVS POPVLVSQVE ROMANVS), ‘to show how high a hill - and the site for such great works - had been cleared away’ ('AD DECLARANDVM QUANTAE ALTITVDINIS MONS ET LOCVS TANTIS OPERIBVS SIT EGESTVS'). This has been taken to indicate that the top of the column marks the original ground level, thus giving an idea of the extent of the excavations undertaken for the construction of the forum, which was funded by the spoils of war from the two Dacian campaigns. The reliefs on the base depict captured Dacian arms and armour, while the torus, at the foot of the column, takes the form of a laurel wreath. The height of the column is 100 Roman feet (29.78 m). It stands on a 5.29 m high pedestal, which makes the overall height 35.07 m. Both the column and the pedestal are made of Carrara marble (marmor Lunensium). The shaft of the column is made up of 17 blocks, which have been cut away on the inside to create 185 steps. The steps lead up the platform, where stand two more cylindrical blocks. The column was once crowned with a bronze statue (thought to have been in the region of 5 metres high) of the emperor Trajan in military dress, but this disappeared centuries ago. In 1587 a bronze statue of St Peter, the work of Tommaso della Porta and Leonardo Sormani, was erected in its place. Around the shaft winds a helical frieze, 200 m long and carved in low relief. The reliefs, which would originally have been coloured, illustrate the story of the two Dacian wars in a continuous sequence of 155 scenes, with over 2,500 figures (the emperor Trajan appears a total of 59 times). In the 9th century a tiny church was built at the base of Trajan's Column. San Niccolò de Columna, which used the monumental column as its bell-tower, was demolished in the 1550s. Its roofline is still visible, cutting into the inscription.  Base of Trajan's Column  A detail of Trajan's Column  The scant remains of the Basilica Ulpia with Trajan's Column in the background  Statue of St Peter Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private and
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June 2021
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