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Trajan's Column VIII TRAJAN'S COLUMN (figs 8.ó and Sruoms or Rou¡N ARCHITECTUnn often overlook ¡he tribes piled up like a mountaln of loot Column of Trajan, regarding it as the province of spe- more than a vehicle for cialists in sculpture, history or military matters. Every- Yet the Column is much column one's altention is mesmerized by the extraordinary sculpture. The simple formula of an honoriflc is of some 2oo metre long relief that winds around the shaft' A' masks a building - for that is what it - door, a vesúbule, document of exceptional artistic and historical impor- complexiry incorporating an entrance and a balcony in the form tance, it narrates the story of the Dacian .wars via a a chanber, a stair, windows succession of minutely detailed scenes' embracing not ofa capital. just the military action but a wide spectrum of related right, it has events.l Depictions of the horror of a mass Dacian Marcus Aur mimicked the archi- suicide are contrasted with legionaries tending crops or largely by the reließ, but others 'Works this theme include constructing buildings (fig. 8'¡); thus the propaganda of ,..t,rr. alone. related to London, dozens of war proclaimed the benefìts of a Roman peace' The Wren's Monument to the Fire of paper projects by such archi- pedestal too is covered by sculptural reließ, this time lighthouses, and reams of showing armorial trophies won from the opposing tects as Ledoux and Boullée'2 of the Forum of Trajan' showing che 8.r Forum of Trajan, Rome (ao ro5), view of Trajant Column 8.2 (aboue) Reconslruction to the Basilica Ulpia when seen from looking through the re-erected columns of the Basilica Lllpia ,.htìo.rrh'ip of the Column far end of the main court. façade. ¡he t6t Pacis or che Temple of Peace even though it was pred_ -t ¡- icated on lìome'.s military prowess just like rhe àther fora), with its rnain axis again parallel ro Caesar,s. Then Domitian transforrned the ancient thoroughfare in the space between the two preceding complexes into the Forum Tiansitorir_rm, a project concluded by Nerva. Although Domitian may have pianned \ ,o^._ a -E thing similar, ir was finally Trajan who complered rhe I 4 sequence with a grandiose conlplex not much smaller - -ii a than all the rest pLrt together. The new forum extended $ the axis of the Temple of peace, while the sense.of tr ÒJi{ r-rnity with the other fora was reinforced by a series _-L of - = ú compositional devices (most notably the exedrae on i Èi the cross-axis), and che reprise of certain key diruen_ i sions like jo, r jo and (fig. 8.+).u È fÌ.3 Scene Â'orrr the shaft of Trajan! Colunn shor,vrng Ronran 4oofr Continuiry is soldiers at work on a building site. also manifest in tenls of the repertoire of prestigious nrarbles strch as giallo antico, africano and pauonazetto (cf. trg. 5.r), and in particular the paving rnotif of large squares framed by relatively narrow bands. 7 Trajant Colun-rn nlerits an ârchitectural / exploration What was che role of the Column in this contexr? \i ri for many reasons. It is the principal remnant ofTiajant Most visitors to Trajan's Forum must have encered !ì0 150 Forum (figs U.r,8.2,8.+,8.S), by 200 all accounrs one of the main porticoed space at che south-east end, lhe most rlagnifìcent places in ancient Rome, if having arrived from the other irnperial fora or Trajant not, in the words of Ammianus Marcellinus,,the most Markecs. Ahead, the Basilica Ulpia presented its iong exquisile strLrcture nnder the canopy of heaven, and side to the viewer, an unnsnal transverse orientation r-rnanimously admired even by che deities themselves,.3 which was possibly derived from the iayout of military It is one of the best preserved of all ancient nlonu_ encampments or Principía.s Such an organization could ments, thanks in part to the technical excellence of its only provide a relatively muted emphasis on the main construction (earthquakes down the years have but axis, and paradoxically - for mosr of ir was out of sighr shifted it half a degree ouc plumb), of in parr ro assid_ - the Column added reinforcement. It heid alofc the uous restorations under Popes Paul III and Sixtus V huge bronze statue ofTiajan, grasping a warrior,s spear (it was the later who claimed it fbr Christianity by and orb, synbol of his inrperíurn, thus giving a theatri- placing a statue Peter of St on the summit, where one cal vertical filiip to the axial progression and signalling of Trajan had originally stood). Another reason for the extension of the complex beyond. This, admittedly, studying Tiajant Column @\rMNt N@Hsrrçoû¡ l-:=ilJ-:- is the opportunity of com_ is a matter of opinion, since rnany reconstructions of paring it wirh Marcus Aurelius'full-size g.rz copy (figs the basilica put its roof high enough eflecrively to and 8.r3).The value of this comparison lies in rhe fact occlude a view of the Column from the main court.6 chat the latter is not a straight reproduction, but a To -y mind a lower level, as proposed byJames packer around fifteen years after the inauguration of the main U.+ (r,rp) Plan of the Forum of Trajan r'r,ith principal dir-uensions thor-rghtful reinterpretarion. The second architect kept and Kevin Sarrinen (figs g.5), ovellaicl. 8.2 and feels more con- complex in trz, a fact that has led many scholars co only what he admired most, changing whar he did nor vincing. At any rate, once inside the basilica the visitor judge it entirely an addition of Hadrian's as opposeci - thus leaving behind a unique cricique by a practis- would fÌ.5 Sectior-ral elevatior-t through the basilica on tlte long axis of have been beckoned by rhe light from the open to just being con-rpleted by hir-n. This supposes thât ing Roman architect. court the Fornn-r of Trajan. around che base of che Column. â temple cannot have been planned for Tì'ajan while Before iooking at rhe Colun-rn in derail, ir rs well According to most reconstruccions, lhis court he was still alive, since emperors were not deified to understand the background of Tiajant Forum as a doubled as a vestibule to the temenos of che Temple uncil after cheir death, and then only upon ratification A related question is che function of the Column whole.This was the culminarion of the so-called impe_ Deified of Trajan and Plotina which concluded the by the Senate.s But others regard it as a logical con- itself when it was dedicated in May rI3. It was to rial fora, the grand sequence of urban set-pieces that north-western end of the project (figs r.6 and g.4), but clusion to the fornm, given chat a temple is the prin- becone Trajan's tomb after his death in tt7, with the took their cue fiom Caesar'.s Forum (fig. r.ó), the orig_ recent investigations have failed to find substructures cipai focus of all the olher imperial fora. According to golden cinerary urn hotlsed stú colururta, probably in inal 'overflow' from the congested republican forum. massive enough to take the temple, leading to the chis line of thinking it must have been planned fi'orn the chamber concealed within the pedestal (figt First came Âugustus', wich its long axis running north_ hypothesis thac this was really at the other end of rhe the outset, on the premise that lhe deifìcation of the 8.ó-9)."' But was this the original intention when east, at right angles to Caesar's, ending in the impos_ forum.i Quite apart from this uncertainty over. its princeps oplinrus, the best of emperors by popr-rlar the forum was initiated?rr Again there is a school of ing Temple of Mars Ulror (fig. 2.4). Sixry or so years location, controversy also surrounds the very concep- consent, was a for:egone conclusion even in the prime thought that holds that the Senatei r-rnprecedented later followed Vespasian's Forum (known as Templum tion of the Traianeum. Ir was not completed until of life.e decision to concede Tiajan burial inside the ciry t6z r63 bounclarics c:ìllllot havc bcclr trikcn cir-rring his lrfòtirtrc. not stâllcl clircctll, ott this spot; instc¡cl it r¡isht bc as r-cpository So clicl thc clranlbcr-st:u't lifc a f<rr'ì)aciarr icicrtificcl ivith rhc Quirin:rl cscrìrpllcnt bcfì>rc it rvas trophics, that is to say thc physicll countcrpurts of rhc trinrrrccl back to rrrakc wny for thc tcn-acinq of' thc booty c:rrvccl or thc r>r-rtsic'lc of thc pcclcst:rl?rl urarkcts. ()thcnvisc thc inscripticln invitcs a still lcss 'Whltcvcr thc truth bchilrcl lÌrcnr, sr-rcÌr clispr-rtcs hrvc litclaì intcrprctatior.l. Tl-rc locrl tcn'aill, rvhilc ÌrarclÌy thc rncrit of lorcing orc to thiuk abor,rt thc othcr fuuc- nror,rr.lt:tinous. wâs sr-rrcly far fionr f1lt, u,ith sprlrs (lolunrn. prrrticip¡tccl tir>ns of tl-rc ìt ill thc iconoglrr- clcsccnclilrq fic>nr thc Qr-ririnrl to covcr ¡ lalsc part oF phy of tìre cornplcx, rvith thc nan'¿rtic'r.l of thc l)acialr thc fìr'unr. ln onc scnsc thc Clolr-llllt shorvccl ofI thc rvars sustnillìng thc parcgyric to Tlljan, thc l\<rrnn fcat of lcvcllirs thc sitc by provicling l f¿rbulous vicu, Errrpilc nrcl its :u'rny.
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