Trajan's Column
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.
The structure is about 30 meters (98 ft) in height, 38 meters (125 ft) including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 40 tons, with a diameter of about 4 meters (13 ft).
The 190 meter (625 ft) frieze winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185
stairs provides access to a viewing platform at the top.
According to coins depicting the column, it was originally topped with a statue of a bird, possibly an eagle, and later by a heroically nude statue of Trajan himself which disappeared in the Middle Ages. In 1588,
it was replaced by a statue of St. Peter (which still remains) by Pope Sixtus V
The relief portrays Trajan's two victorious military campaigns against the Dacians;
the lower half illustrating the first (101-102), and the top half illustrating the second (105-106).
The two sections are separated by a personification of Victory writing on a shield flanked on either side by Trophies. Otherwise, the scenes on the frieze unfold continuously and in tipped-up perspective. The imagery is not realistic as the sculptor pays little attention to perspective. Often a variety of different perspectives are used in the same scene,
so that more can be revealed (e.g. a different angle is used to show men working behind a wall).
The scenes depict mostly the Roman army in military activities such as setting out to battle and engaging the Dacians, as well as constructing fortifications and listening to the emperor's address. The carvings are crowded with sailors, soldiers, statesmen and priests, showing about 2,500 figures in all and providing a valuable source of information for modern historians on Roman and barbaric arms and methods of warfare (such as forts, ships, weapons etc.). The relief shows such details as a ballista or catapult for example. The emperor Trajan, depicted realistically (not superhuman), makes 59 appearances among his troops.
A large figure of a river god is also visible.
The base is covered with reliefs of trophies of Dacian weapons. Such imagery had the connotation of a surrender, as in Ancient times the defeated soldiers would dump their weapons in a pile as a term of surrender.
