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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 17: Trajan's Column
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A Podcast about Rome. Episode 17: Trajan's Column

Column and cupola. 4 March 2024

A stone’s throw from the Forum of Nerva, about which I spoke last time, is one of the finest, most innovative, and indeed largest examples of Roman art. Trajan’s Column is also a spectacularly sophisticated piece of public messaging. It commemorates Trajan’s victory in Dacia (modern-day Romania) over the fearsome king Decebalus and his allies, but also alludes to engineering triumph and the earthworks which led to its construction. Carved in exquisite relief from marble quarried in the Apuan Alps to advertise the reign of arguably the most successful of all of Rome’s emperors, Trajan’s Column quite literally moved mountains.

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An excellent resource is this page from the Italian Ministry of Culture, clicking on the “Story” tab gives a narration of the scenes as they unfurl.

The first scenes of the relief showing the river god of the Danube crossed by Roman troops on a bridge made of boats
Trajan addresses his troops announcing the beginning of the campaign of the First Dacian War
The dedicatory inscription on the base of the column, between winged victories
Trajan’s Column seen beyond the recently reconstructed section of the Basilica Ulpia

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