The Column of Trajan and Its Heirs: Helicaltales, Ambiguous Trails
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3 The Column of Trajan and Its Heirs: HelicalTales, Ambiguous Trails Of historicalnarratives, one part is historiaor systematictact-thdrni. ":.- other part mythosor fairy-tale,and anotherplasnt, or pl.rusiblcnl\ (:::: : And of rhese/ristoria is the exposition of ccrtain cvcnts that .rrd tru: j: : have occurred:Alcxander's death by trcacherouslyadnrinistcrcil .lnrs. ' Ilaylon. And plasnadeals with cventsthat have not occurrcd bu( .rre.:::.- ilar, in the retelling, to real r-vents:the hypothesesoi conrttlrc. r::.: nrimes. And mythosis an cxposition of events that have ncvcr ()c.u::- : and are thlsc:ooet-fabricated tales. Srxtus Eltprnrcus, AduersosCrammaticos :6i-:/ . Although few would deny that the Column of Trajan in his Fortrrrr standsamong the greatestof all Ronran nlonuments,scholars trnl r,' agreeon what the column represents.Placed on a high, squarcp()- dium, once containingTrajan's ashes, and closelyboxed in bv buili- ings, the column risesfrom a laureatetorus molding to the grcat clpr- tal, which originally bore a gilded bronzestatue of the emperor (tlc 3.r;pls. 3.I-3.3).r This lofty statue,marking the long axisof thc Fo- rum, may have been visible from the entrance, a numinous f-iqurc mediating between earth and heaven.tThe eye-catchingmarble col- umn, supporting the Imperial image, is wrapped in a helical band trt- narrativereliefs on which the fame of this monument, perhapseven ()l Trajan himself appearsto rest.r These reliefs consist of more than z,5or-rfigures, arrangedin corrr- plex landscapeand architecturalsettings, and include as many as I -i_i scenes.'Apparently, they presentthe history of the two Dacian \\'rrs l of rot-ro6 4.n., when Trajan gatheredthe provinceof Daciainto thc t Roman Empire, bringing much glory to himself. The artist adopted an epic-documentarymode of historicalrepresentation, previously de- veloped to celebratethe deedsof conqueringemperors in Roman art. Despitethe grand scaleof the conceptand the heightof the colunrn. 9o ./ A:r --\ \ 6 -- r53l 6 lat ra9-50 147 t{5 l4( ir"( 112-l ral r42-3-4 4 l3r t40 t4l t3a-5 17i7i' 2 t3l 32 1 125-6 ll30\ r3r I ZNP4 '/ t23 -6 T\ |il9 t22 I124 il8 \ r2o-r I lt7 lla ll5-( |7 , lt6 lr3 !t5.6 lt4 Il2 r8.9 llrI ir2l |l3 r07 roE- no IO4 ;;) (;; t()2 rol IG loo tol 9a 193 roo I 9s-6-' 93 'rl 89-90 8t se-eo) el 05 86 87 ro{ 8l 86\ fta;; 79 >7t 11' 80 '5-3urneno --T 75 76 7) 73 74-5 70 1 7l ,2 66. f 67 68-9 6a 65 66 65 ''' \: 03.4 57-t- g_l) 60 6l 53 54 55/ 56117 5o t2 .8-e | 50 5l 46- 4a rz\'8 ao 42-3 ao-| .1' 40 if 39 35, 36 t, 33 l6 32 rr \3s 2a 31 132 24 25 26 27 2l-2 23 24 IE r9-20 20 2t-2 t3 la 16-7 t2 l4 l5 il-2 t/9 to to a 5 6 6 7 8 2\ 2 I 3-4 st NT ilw 5W the Divine ?roion NW Column of Troion Librory rplrol ends NE tirrt oppeorance of lroion (6) 3E (doorf Fig. j.r. The column of Trajan a.d Forum (adaptedfrom c. cichorius, Die Retiefs der Traianssiiule[Berlin r896-r9oo] and W. Gauer, LJntersuthungenzur Traianssiiule.I: Darstellungsprogramm und kunstlerischerEntuturJ [ffgy1in ry771 fig. 4) 9r 92 VisualNarratiues !. 't ,€€ ,i.. , t- #; r.- : : -- . I,-' ."f : 4':, '{i t."i t' r'$ t.*4 --.d***' Plate j.t. Column of Trajan, Rome. pcdestal and scene 6. the numerous, small figures were progressivelydifficult to seeclearly, even if the low relief surfacewas once elaboratelypainted. Neither could they be easily comprbhendedfrom close by, becausethe prox- imity of the column to the librariesand to the BasilicaUlpia (fig. :.r) did not allow the viewer to step back sufficiently to gai' a consisrenr, coherentperspective of the whole. Furthermore, the helical courseof the relief band made it practicallyimpossible to follow the path of the relief without losing one's place, especiallyas the figures becamein- distinct at the sidesof the visual field. And ir was and still is very diffi- cult to understand the scenesin the higher elevations of the helix The Column of Trajan and Its Heirs 93 :tt: ' ,r,,t:*{E& Plate3.2. Column of Trajan, Rome. East side 94 Visual Narratiues Platej- j. Column of Trajan on sestertius reverse. without undergoing the most taxing gyrations, complicatedby lapses of memory, which concealthe narrativetrail (ftg. l.z).' The relative obscurity of so much of the relief, the difficulty in vis- ually maintaining the continuity of the narrative becauseof the cir- cling upward movement of the helix, and the constantseparation be- tween the viewer's experienceof time and the progress of events would seem paradoxicalif the principal purpose of the reliefs was to presentthe Dacian Wars in linear, chronologicalorder. Given the sub- stantialpresence of the monument and the importanceof the commis- sion, this seeming disparity between the competenceof the artist- narrator and the apparent incompetenceof the observer must be an illusion. Yet these very explicit, elaboratelydetailed, and ostensibly historicalreliefs extended over hundredsof meters.If the artist did not intend to entrap the viewer within the confinesof the helix, then he nust have provided comprehensibleand sympathetic alternativesfor interpreting the reliefs, separatefrom the historical context. Accord- ingly, what has been generallyrecognized as the most extensivework of narrativeart surviving from antiquity must be, in effect, something more. Gauer has emphasizedthe primacy of the architecturalrole of the column as a free-standing form without appreciating the vectoral course of the helical relief and its synthesisof horizontal and vertical motion.8 Whatever the sourcesof the spiral band the insistent rise complementsthe supportive function of the column.eLike it, the he- lix culminatesin the radiant person of Trajan Optimus Augustus (pl. 3.3), as rhetoricadds persuasion to argument. The helix begins directly above the entranceto the podium on the long axisof the Forum (fig. :.r), althoughthe narrativeitself properly starts with the first carved forms, representingDacian buildings, at The Column of Trajan and lts Heirs 95 Y {} -a | | ------ -,/^) -:-: ---:' i | ^/,/' .l-fl:"f, LJ LY In this woy the tourlifs con odmlre the reliefs of the Column of Troion Fig. j.z. The Column of Trajan, Rome (adaptedfrom a cartoon in Il Messagqero[Rome] October 7, 1958) the eastcorner (plr. :.r, 3.2).Right abovethem and in line with the eagle of Jupiter, the sign of the triumphant emperor, the artist pre- sentedTrajan for the first time (scene6): he appearsin military council at the beginning of the campaign, facing east toward Dacia and the rising sun. This position marks the dawn of a new era, when Trajan stood aspacator orbis after his Dacian victory,"'a theme later extended by an issueof aurei that display the image of the Sun God, probably in reference to his final eastern campaign against the Parthians." More than a century before, Augustus had similarly associatedhimself with the cosmos, the sun, easternvictories, and world peaceand had expressedthis program through the intimate relationshipbetween the I Solarium Augusti and the Ara PacisAugustae.'2 E. Buchner recently observed that the height of the Solarium obelisk was approximately that of the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, hardly a fortu- 96 Visual Narratives itous coincidence.'3C. J. Simpsonhas also suggestedthat a further connectionbetween Augustus and Trajan was deliberatelystressed: in his opinion, the Column of Trajan was dedicatedon May rz, possibly to Mars Ultor, on the precedentof Augustus'sdedication of the Tem- ple of Mars Ultor in Rome on the sameday in z B.c.r.So it would appearthat neither the beginning nor the dimensionsof the helix were self-determinedor self-containedbut were exrernally referential be- yond the boundariesof the historical account. According to Pliny, the Elder, Romans placed statuesof famous men on columns to elevatethem above all other mortals (l,lat. Hist. 34.12.27).Recent experimenrs have demonsrratedthat there is a pref- ercncefor upright structuresin nremory traces.since verticality serves as the integrating factor, giving an ordered structure to what other- wise might have become an overburdened form of representation.15 At this basiclevel of integration, the form of the column presentedit- self as a single sign,'othe very instrument to convey honor upon Trajan for those who sought immediate comprehensionwithout refer- ence necessarilyto the reliefs.'?In this capacity, the column func- tioned as an "iconogram."'' Still, when perceivedfully as a complex work of art, it presentsa network of diverse communicational acts that elicit responsesthrough the repertoriesof images.', The helical reliefs thus compel viewers to realizethat there is a surplus of visual expression that they are unable to analyzecompletely as they lose sight of the historicaltrack around in back and up above(fig. :.r; pl. 3.2). At the sametime they sensethat there is alsoa surplusof con- tent, as more is given than the record of the Dacian Wars, however elaboratetheir presentation.r"Indeed, ljmberto Eco seemsalmost to have the Column of Trajan in mind when he writes: Thus art seemsro be a way of intcrconncctingmessages in ordcr to pro- duce a text in which: \q manymcssages, on diffbrent levelsand planesof the discourse,are anbiguously organized; (b) thcseambiguities are not re- alized at random but follow a precisedesi,gn; (c) both the normal and the ambiguous deviceswithin a given messageexert a tofltextualpressure on both the normal and the ambiguous deviceswithin all others; (d) the way in rvhich norms of a givcn systcm are offbnded by one messageis tlresame as that in which the norms of orhcr systemsare offbnded by the various messagesthat they pcrmit.:' In considering the helical relief of Trajan's Column, such arnbiguities may be discovered in two intertwined contexts: that of the "histori- cal" narrative of the Dacian Wars, dependent on textual analogies and patterns of reading, and that of the articulated, directional sequence of identifiable scenes(figr.