The Column of Trajan, Rome

The Forum of Trajan was the most costly monument of ancient Rome. The Capitoline Hill was originally connected with the Quirinal by a steep ridge which interfered with the traffic of the city. Trajan conceived the plan of separating these two hills and erecting a forum which should double the area of the other five existing forums. His plans were carried into execution by the architect Apollodorus in about fifteen years time. The private property purchased on each side and on the top of this ridge cost the Emperor $12,223,000. So great was the work of cutting and carting away this mountain that the well-known column of Trajan was erected at a public cost, to show to posterity how high was the mountain levelled by the Emperor. It was erected, A. D. 114. The beautiful column of Trajan is of pure Carrara marble. The sculptures in bas-relief, wound spirally around the shaft, contain 2000 figures, and commemorate the exploits of Trajan, especially his triumph over the Dacians. The column is composed of 34 distinct blocks of marble, hollowed on the inside to form a spiral staircase. The summit was crowned by a bronze statute of Trajan, but having fallen to the ground, it was replaced by one of St. Peter. The ashes of the great Emperor were buried at the base. This Forum of Trajan was surrounded by porticoes, ornamented with works of art. It included Trajan's Basilica (the bases of the pillars still marking its outline), the Ulpian Basilica, the Ulpian Library and other buildings which made it one of the marvels of the world. It was in the Ulpian Basilica of Trajan's Forum that Constantine proclaimed the Christian religion to be the state religion of the Roman Empire, 312 A. D. The Forum of Trajan, as we see it to-day, was excavated in 1812 by the French.