A partially reconstructed temple stands near a round altar in the sacred precinct of Sarmizegetusa, which was demolished after Rome’s victory. Trajans forum in the courtyard. Trajan was being lifted up to the gods – the ultimate reward for being a victorious and effective leader. The column is one of the most distinctive monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons, which had to be lifted to a height of c. 34 m. “It’s Trajan’s attempt to be not only a man of the army,” Coarelli says, “but also a man of culture.”. During the second invasion Trajan didn’t mess around. Trajan colonized his newest province with Roman war veterans, a legacy reflected in the country’s modern name, Romania. Trajan’s Column is one of the most impressive sights in the Imperial Forum in Rome. Inside Trajan’s Column. There's a staircase inside that leads up to the top of the column! Or, Coarelli says, like Trajan’s memoirs. Today tourists crane their necks up at it as guides explain its history. Meanwhile legionaries—the highly trained backbone of Rome’s war machine—occupy themselves with building forts and bridges, clearing roads, even harvesting crops. ... inside the column plus 43 openings to allow light. high pedestal, and made of Carrara marble. Artists lowered themselves in baskets from the top to study it in detail. V&A East. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons, which had to be lifted to a height of 112 feet. Vessel: 6.7 inches high, Fourth century B.C. From their powerful realm north of the Danube River, the Dacians regularly raided the Roman Empire. They were skilled metalworkers, mining and smelting iron and panning for gold to create magnificently ornamented jewelry and weaponry. The column was in all likelihood conceived by Trajan’s architect Apollodoros of Damascus as a commemoration of the emperor’s victorious Dacian campaigns of c. 101-2 and 105-6 CE. See more ideas about trajan's column, rome, ancient rome. Trajan's Column. Decebalus. Bracelets: 3.9-4.7 in (diameter), Second Century B.C.–first century A.D. The way Coarelli sees it, the carving resembles a scroll, the likely form of Trajan’s war diary. Burial site for Trajans ashes. “It was for Roman citizens, to show the power of the imperial machinery, capable of conquering such a noble and fierce people.”. In back-to-back wars fought between A.D. 101 and 106, the emperor Trajan mustered tens of thousands of Roman troops, crossed the Danube River on two of the longest bridges the ancient world had ever seen, defeated a mighty barbarian empire on its mountainous home turf twice, then systematically wiped it from the face of Europe. The Dacians had no written language, so what we know about their culture is filtered through Roman sources. Trajan’s Column may be propaganda, but archaeologists say there’s an element of truth to it. The cast is built around a brick core, which was built by George Smith and Co., and was estimated to cost £233. His ashes and those of his wife, Plotina, were set inside the base in golden urns (which later disappeared from the monument). The cast was constructed around this core, and photographs in the V&A Archive show individual parts of the casts being assembled. o Specifically, the column ... hollow, there is a staircase inside (spiral, 185 steps) topped with a bronze statue of Trajan (but was replaced by a statue of st. peter in 1588 CE) And because Trajan left Dacia in ruins, the column and the remaining sculptures of defeated soldiers that once decorated the forum are treasured today by Romanians as clues to how their Dacian ancestors may have looked and dressed. The installation is made of conservation latex that has been used to ‘clean’ the hollow inside of the cast of Trajan’s Column, the largest object in the V&A. I am Lead Curator of the Public Network at the new Collections Research Centre at V&A East and am on secondment from the department of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass. “In this way Dacia became subject to the Romans.”. A storm indicated to the Romans (foreground) that the god Jupiter, with his thunderbolts, was on their side. The message seems intended for Romans, not the surviving Dacians, most of whom had been sold as slaves. The column was inspired by its more famous predecessor Trajan's Column which was set up, also in Rome, in 113 CE. According to Roman law, it was forbidden to bury the dead inside the city walls but Trajan went beyond the law to send a clear political message: the emperor must remain with the people and must consider himself a servant of the State. Meet National Geographic’s artist-in-residence, Fernando Baptista, to see how the video was made. Trajan, who ruled from A.D. 98 until 117, when he fell ill and died, expanded the Roman Empire to its farthest boundaries. To commemorate the victory, Trajan commissioned a forum that included a spacious plaza surrounded by colonnades, two libraries, a grand civic space known as the Basilica Ulpia, and possibly even a temple. “The campaigns were dreadful and violent,” says Roberto Meneghini, the Italian archaeologist in charge of excavating Trajan’s Forum. The Trajan's Column was erected by Trajan between the two libraries in his forum is made up of nineteen cylindrical blocks of marble. The story of Emperor Trajan’s victory over a mighty barbarian empire isn’t just one for the books. Using aerial imaging, archaeologists have identified more than 260 man-made terraces, which stretch for nearly three miles along the valley. They’re all fighting the Dacians, suggesting that anyone, no matter how wild their hair or crazy their fashion sense, could become a Roman. Debate still simmers over the column’s construction, meaning, and most of all, historical accuracy. Map: Jerome N. Cookson, Alexander Stegmaier, and Matthew Twombly, NGM Staff. Here he is giving a speech to the troops; there he is thoughtfully conferring with his advisers; over there, presiding over a sacrifice to the gods. Later it was a favorite attraction for tourists: Goethe, the German poet, climbed the 185 internal steps in 1787 to “enjoy that incomparable view.” Plaster casts of the column were made starting in the 1500s, and they have preserved details that acid rain and pollution have worn away. The Pedestal of the Column of Trajan. Its base guarded the golden urn holding his ashes. And what about the shocking depiction of women torturing shirtless, bound captives with flaming torches? Not far from the altar rises a small spring that could have provided water for religious rituals. These gold coins with Roman imagery and bracelets weighing up to two pounds each were looted from the ruins of Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital, and recovered in recent years. The scenes spiral up towards the top of the column where originally there was a statue of Trajan, reaching up into the sky. Ever since it was built in 1873, there's been a tantalizing door inside the V&A Museum that normally locked, and only very occasionally opened — but now is open all the time. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 stairs provides access to a viewing platform at the top. It’s like a TV series.”. Casts such as this one preserve details on Trajan’s Column that pollution has eroded. There’s not much fighting in its depiction of the two wars. In climbing the column , one loses access to the scenes of the Dacian Wars; however, one can find scene-by-scene views of the reliefs from the project of Roger B. You can’t believe a word of it.”, Coulston argues that no single mastermind was behind the carvings. Or are they just thirsty? A Renaissance pope replaced the statue of Trajan with one of St. Peter, to sanctify the ancient artifact. Originally, a 4.8 m (16 ft) bronze statue of Trajan stood on the top pedestal but this was replaced by a statue of St. Peter in 1588 CE. When it was built, the column stood between the two libraries, which perhaps held the soldier-emperor’s account of the wars. His end is carved on his archrival’s column. You’d think they were invincible too, since there’s not a single dead Roman soldier on the column. Trajan’s Column. Story by Andrew CurryPhotographs by Kenneth Garrett. The Vertebral Column The Vertebral Column The vertebral column, which connects the skull to the pelvis, is also called the spine. A broad flagstone road leads from the thick, half-buried walls of a fortress down to a wide, flat meadow. Imperial Themes. There are no cultivated fields. Supported upon a foundation of travertine, the pedestal was built in the form of a rectilinear box (Italian: forma di dado). A contemporary claimed that Trajan took 500,000 prisoners, bringing some 10,000 to Rome to fight in the gladiatorial games that were staged for 123 days in celebration. “They’re overinterpreting and always have. In her monthly SCS column, Dr. Cate Bonesho provides a photo essay recounting her trip inside of Trajan's Column and underneath the oculus of the Pantheon during Pentecost. “The column is an amazing work,” he says, leafing through black-and-white photos of the carvings, pausing to admire dramatic scenes. Sarmizegetusa was their political and spiritual capital. “No Dacians were able to come and see the column,” Meneghini says. Figure 1: Jorge Otero-Pailos, “The Ethics of Dust: Trajan’s Column” (2015). Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, the head of the National History Museum of Romania, begs to differ: “They’re definitely Dacian prisoners being tortured by the angry widows of slain Roman soldiers.” Like much about the column, what you see tends to depend on what you think of the Romans and the Dacians. The column was deeply influential, the inspiration for later monuments in Rome and across the empire. The massive modern monument at right commemorates Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a united Italy. Flecks of natural mica make the dirt paths sparkle in the sun. In 1864 Monsieur Oudry made this cast from the original, which was erected in Rome in AD 113. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; photographed at Musei Capitolini, Rome. You can now stand inside Trajan's Column. How it was made and how accurate it is remain the subjects of spirited debate. The shaft of the column is made up of 17 blocks, which have been cut away on the inside to create 185 steps. base of column. A total of 185 steps took the visitor from the pavement outside the pedestal up to the balcony. September 25, 2017. Writers across the ages have described the reign of Trajan (98 – 117 AD) as the … As the name suggests, Trajan’s Market was built by Roman Emperor Trajan who ruled over the empire from 98 until 117 A.D. He’s considered to be one of the best emperors of the Roman Empire and is known for expanding the empire to its maximum extent, reaching east all the way to Baghdad in modern-day Iraq. Recent research sheds light on an ancient Roman mystery: how a monument called Trajan's Column may have been built. The two wars must have killed tens of thousands. The artwork, in his view, was more “inspired by” than “based on.” Take the column’s priorities. Trajan's Column in Rome. Traces of buildings remain, a mix of original stones and concrete reproductions, the legacy of an aborted communist-era attempt to reconstruct the site. Spiraling around the column like a modern-day comic strip is a narrative of the Dacian campaigns: Thousands of intricately carved Romans and Dacians march, build, fight, sail, sneak, negotiate, plead, and perish in 155 scenes. In 101 Trajan moved to punish the troublesome Dacians. The juxtaposition of the busy traffic center, the Altar of the Fatherland, and Trajan’s Forum and Column is incredibly thought-provoking. Next to it is a low, circular stone altar carved with a sunburst pattern, the sacred center of the Dacian universe. The story on the column celebrates Trajan’s victory in the Dacians War. Filippo Coarelli, a courtly Italian archaeologist and art historian in his late 70s, literally wrote the book on the subject. Present-day city names are in parentheses. Most of Rome houses sites from many periods of its history, but none is quite so jarring as the area surrounding the Column. When Room 46A re-opens to the public in autumn 2018, visitors will be able to enter the door in the base of Trajan’s Column, and for the first time will be able to sit and marvel at the cast’s immense size and construction. “Instead of having what art historians love, which is a great master and creative mind,” he says, “the composition is being done by grunts at the stone face, not on a drawing board in the studio.”. “The Dacian women torturing Roman soldiers? The exposed ruins, along with artifacts recovered from looters, reveal a thriving hub of manufacturing and religious ritual. This 98 foot monolith of carrara marble was erected on the site of Trajan’s Forum in 113 AD to celebrate the Emperor’s . Feb 4, 2018 - This edifice is the greatest single source to this day as to what Rome's Legions actually looked like. It seems the city was a center of metal production, supplying other Dacians with weapons and tools in exchange for gold and grain. Trajan returned in 105 and crushed them. When Room 46A re-opens to the public in autumn 2018, visitors will be able to enter the door in the base of Trajan’s Column, and for the first time will be able to sit and marvel at the cast’s immense size and construction. Yet once the Dacians were vanquished, they became a favorite theme for Roman sculptors. In Trajan’s day the thousand-mile journey from Rome would have taken a month at least. Trajan’s Column, with a statue of St. Peter installed by a Renaissance pope on top, towers over the ruins of Trajan’s Forum, which once included two libraries and a grand civic space paid for by war spoils from Dacia. Archaeologists have scrutinized the scenes to learn about the uniforms, weapons, equipment, and tactics the Roman Army used. Complete photographic documentation with commentary of the spiral reliefs on Trajan's Column in Rome, sourced both from casts and the reliefs in situ. Find inspiration in our incredible range of exclusive gifts, jewellery, books, fashion, prints & posters and much more... © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2021, We use cookies to enhance your experience on V&A websites. Dacian King. For the past six years Gelu Florea, an archaeologist from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, has spent summers excavating the site. The column emphasizes Rome’s vast empire. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 steps leads to a viewing platform at the top. Ample evidence suggests that they were a regional power for centuries, raiding and exacting tribute from their neighbors. “The artist—and artists at this time didn’t have the freedom to do what they wanted—must have acted according to Trajan’s will,” he says. Although the brick core was built to support the cast, today it is very much regarded as part of the object and provides a valuable insight into the history of the court and it’s construction. “People desperately want to compare it to news media and films,” he says. Italians see them as captive Romans suffering at the hands of barbarian women. Inside Trajan’s Column. It’s all generic. Mar 24, 2017 - Explore Nora Garibotti Photography's board "Trajan's Column" on Pinterest. In this scene from a plaster and marble-dust cast made between 1939 and 1943, Trajan (at far left) watches a battle, while two Roman auxiliaries present him with severed enemy heads. The destruction of Dacia’s holiest temples and altars followed Sarmizegetusa’s fall. After nearly two years of battle Decebalus, the Dacian king, negotiated a treaty with Trajan, then promptly broke it. The eroded carvings are hard to make out above the first few twists of the story. The column stands 38.4 m (126 ft) high from the ground to the top of the statue base: Located immediately next to the large Basilica Ulpia, it had to be constructed sufficiently tall in order to function as a vantage point and to maintain its own vis… Sources: Ioana A. Oltean, University of Exeter; Jon Coulston, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, The column emphasizes Rome’s vast empire. Finally, the column served as a home for the emperor’s tomb. TRAJAN'S COLUMN Hv GIACOMO HON I Head May 21), l‘>07. In this marble statue he wears armor typically used in triumphal parades. It was a show of power—we have the means, we have the power, we are the bosses.”. Trajan’s war on the Dacians, a civilization in what is now Romania, was the defining event of his 19-year rule. “There wasn’t a building remaining in the entire fortress. The column carries representations carved in high relief of the emperor's successful … thanks for such a nice presentation of an ancient story, looks interesting, Join today and enjoy unlimited free entry to all V&A exhibitions, Members-only previews and more. Trajan’s Column and Forum are in the heart of a thriving and modern city. The interior of Trajan's Column is hollow: entered by a small doorway at one side of the base, a spiral stair of 185 steps gives access to the platform above, having offered the visitor in antiquity a view over the surrounding Trajan's forum; 43 window slits illuminate the ascent. This scene shows Roman soldiers loading plunder onto pack animals after defeating Decebalus, the Dacian king. The shaft of 17 drums stands on a square base and a torus, and is topped by a Doric capital, and a balcony formed by the top surface of the abacus. In his sun-flooded living room in Rome, he pulls his illustrated history of the column off a crowded bookshelf. Of course Coarelli’s speculating. Just look at the scenes that show the looting of Sarmizegetusa or villages in flames. The forum was “unique under the heavens,” one early historian enthused, “beggaring description and never again to be imitated by mortal men.”. The majestic frieze that coils around the column 23 times can be viewed as an ancient comic strip. Some scenes remain ambiguous and their interpretations controversial. Trajan's Column The Roman legions were known to be quite violent and fierce.”. Trajan’s Forum had dozens of statues of handsome, bearded Dacian warriors, a proud marble army in the very heart of Rome. Iv the month of Mnrrh, lOOfi, when I first l>ognn to give special Attention to tlie problem of the column of Trajan, it wan n common belief among students of llomnn archaeology and topography that the Trajan's Column, built by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus (60-129 (?) The Column of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina which stands in Piazza Colonna in Rome is thought to have been erected by Commodus in memory of his father and mother sometime around 180 CE. They once supported a bronze statue (5 m high) of Trajan in military dress, but this disappeared centuries ago. The overall height is 35.07m. Near the top of the column is a glimpse of the denouement: a village put to the torch, Dacians fleeing, a province empty of all but cows and goats. Dacia’s proud ruler spared himself the humiliation of surrender. It consists of 24 bone discs called vertebrae and an additional 9 fused vertebrae that make up the lowest part of the spine, the sacrum and tailbone. In a visual narrative that winds from the column’s base to its top, Trajan and his soldiers triumph over the Dacians. As Florea conjures the smoke and screams, looting and slaughter, suicides and panic depicted on Trajan’s Column, there’s a rumble of thunder. The weeping Dacians poisoning themselves to avoid capture? Read our. Find out more about the Cast Collection on our collection webpages. In fact clues gleaned from the column and excavations at Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital, suggest that the carvings say more about Roman preoccupations than about history. Set on a pedestal and topped by a great capital, the column measures 29.78 metres or one hundred Roman feet: a carefully calculated height. Trajans Forum. This week electrician’s have been working inside the column to install new lighting which will enable visitors to better view the central brick core, a feat of 19th century construction in itself. The Trajan's Column. To get to the site today, visitors have to negotiate a potholed dirt road through the same forbidding valley that Trajan faced. uniforms, weapons, equipment, and tactics the Roman Army used, anyone, no matter how wild their hair or crazy their fashion sense, could become a Roman, magnificently ornamented jewelry and weaponry. After Trajan's death in 117, the Roman Senate voted to have Trajan's ashes buried in the Column's square base, which is decorated with captured Dacian arms and armor. I would encourage everyone to go to Rome – it’s an amazing city. This masterpiece was finished in 113 AD. The column portrays them as a force of order and civilization, not destruction and conquest. Are the Dacian nobles gathered around Trajan in scene after scene surrendering or negotiating? Are the besieged Dacians reaching for a cup to commit suicide by drinking poison rather than face humiliation at the hands of the conquering Romans? Working under the supervision of a maestro, Coarelli says, sculptors followed a plan to create a skyscraping version of Trajan’s scroll on 17 drums of the finest Carrara marble. “It’s the biggest, most representative, most complex settlement in Dacia.”. In the first major battle Trajan defeated the Dacians (background) at Tapae. The shaft consists of a series of 20 colossal drums of Carrara marble, with a diameter of 12`1 feet (3`17 m) and each weighing about 32 tons. Rome had been betrayed one time too many. A triple ring of stone pillars outlines a once impressive temple that distantly echoes the round Dacian buildings on Trajan’s Column. Whatever form they took, Trajan’s memoirs are long gone. Excavations at Dacian sites, including Sarmizegetusa, continue to reveal traces of a civilization far more sophisticated than implied by “barbarian,” the dismissive term the Romans used. Andrew Curry wrote about the Roman frontier in the September 2012 issue. Two years of war led to a negotiated peace, which the Dacians promptly broke. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the landmark and has remained obsessed—and pugnaciously contrarian—ever since. The base of the column’s plinth was commissioned later, at the cost of 5,000 francs, and it is through a door in the plinth that visitors will be able to enter the column’s interior. The sky is suddenly menacing, the air sticky and humid. For centuries classicists have treated the carvings as a visual history of the wars, with Trajan as the hero and Decebalus, the Dacian king, as his worthy opponent. The booty changed the landscape of Rome. The site is lush and quiet. Each section of the cast is individually numbered so that the column could be easily built like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The cast has remained in the gallery ever since, and has stoically resisted being moved and even disposed of when interest in copies declined. War is war. It’s hard to imagine the ceremonies that took place here—and the terrible end. He appears 58 times, depicted as a canny commander, accomplished statesman, and pious ruler. The towering beech trees that have grown thick over Sarmizegetusa blot out the sun, casting a chill shade even on a warm day. This past week in Rome, I took part in two of Among Roman politicians, “Dacian” was synonymous with double-dealing. The ruined city lies high in the mountains of central Romania. Back then the passes were guarded by elaborate ridgetop fortifications; now only a few peasant huts keep watch. o The point was to see the stories of Trajan's military victories. Photographer Kenneth Garrett is a frequent contributor to the magazine. - Column of Trajan . Trajan's Column, located within the Imperial Fora, commemorates Trajan's victory during the Dacian Wars (101-102 CE and 105-106 CE). Becky Knott. The column sits in what used to be Trajan’s forum and it is a monument celebrating the military campaign and victory that Emperor Trajan led in Dacia, the area that is now Romania. This triumphal column takes it places in Trajan’s Forum. Trajan’s army includes African cavalrymen with dreadlocks, Iberians slinging stones, Levantine archers wearing pointy helmets, and bare-chested Germans in pants, which would have appeared exotic to toga-clad Romans. Towering over it was a stone column 126 feet high, crowned with a bronze statue of the conqueror. ... trajan’s column (from the forum of augustus) roma • trajan’s column from the forum of augustus roma • zuil van trajanus roma • The four faces of the pedestal of the Column of Trajan in Rome. “Everything was dismantled by the Romans,” Florea says. high, standing on a 5.29m. Florea and his team have found evidence of Roman military know-how and Greek architectural and artistic influences. 1. Trajan. One contemporary chronicler boasted that the conquest yielded a half million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver, not to mention a fertile new province. Sources: Ioana A. Oltean, University of Exeter; Jon Coulston, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Map: Jerome N. Cookson, Alexander Stegmaier, and Matthew Twombly, NGM Staff. At 126 feet tall, cut from marble, adorned with a spiral frieze intricately carved with 155 scenes, Trajan’s amazing column is a war diary that soars over Rome. Completed in 113, the column has stood for more than 1,900 years. Italia.it June 12, 2012. This exciting opportunity to view Trajan’s Column from the inside will shed new light on this much loved object, and will make visible the sheer effort of making and displaying this monumental cast. It constitutes of 18 blocks of stone one on top of the other and it is hollow inside. The rest of Dacia was devastated too. Prior to this project, the inside of the column’s base was used as a store room for objects, plinths and other museum paraphernalia, but was emptied out in preparation for the Court’s renovation. Large wooden beams brace the cylindrical cast, and holes in the brickwork show how scaffolding was built inside the column during construction. Trajan’s Column is a ‘Tuscan’ or ‘Roman Doric’ order column, 29.78m. In 1873 the purpose-built Cast Courts were completed, and they had been built to a height of 25 metres in order to accommodate Trajan’s Column in two parts. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society.All rights reserved. The emperor is the story’s hero. (Trajan was born to Roman parents in what is now Spain.). This stop-motion animation imagines its construction.Go behind the scenes to see how the video was made.Read more about Trajan's Column online in National Geographic magazine. See more ideas about trajan's column, roman history, ancient rome. Trajan’s Column, monument that was erected in 106–113 ce by the Roman emperor Trajan and survives intact in the ruins of Trajan’s Forum in Rome. In every scene. Living in Rome has its perks. It’s also told in 155 scenes carved in a spiral frieze on a monumental column. Instead archaeologists have found the remains of dense clusters of workshops and houses, along with furnaces for refining iron ore, tons of iron hunks ready for working, and dozens of anvils. Over the centuries, as the city’s landmarks crumbled, the column continued to fascinate and awe. The entire settlement covered more than 700 acres. Dacians fashioned precious metals into jewelry, coins, and art, such as the gold-trimmed silver drinking vessel at left. conquest of Dacia, modes day Romania. The historian Tacitus called them “a people which never can be trusted.” They were known for squeezing the equivalent of protection money out of the Roman Empire while sending warriors to raid its frontier towns. Jon Coulston, an expert on Roman iconography, arms, and equipment at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, studied the column up close for months from the scaffolding that surrounded it during restoration work in the 1980s and ’90s. “Look at the Romans fighting with cutoff heads in their mouths. Can you climb Trajan's column? The few tourists speak in hushed voices. Sometimes people call it ancient comics due to its detailed explanation of the story. Explore Trajan's Column in an interactive graphic. It is about 30 meters tall (a little more, if we include the basement), over 5 meters large and it is made of marble, from the North of Italy. The steps lead up the platform, where stand two more cylindrical blocks. Not open to the public though. where the column is situated. It sometimes seems as if there are as many interpretations as there are carved figures, and there are 2,662 of those. There is no sign that the Dacians grew food up here. Less than a quarter of the frieze shows battles or sieges, and Trajan himself is never shown in combat. Coins: 0.7-0.83 in, First century B.C. The marble pedestal of the Column of Trajan is oriented NW-SE to the main grid of the Forum complex, on line with the short axis of the Basilica Ulpia. Home; Structures > Trajan's Column. Travel in time with this stop-motion animation and see how Trajan’s Column was built—according to one theory. In addition to the amazing food and constant museum visits, there are a couple opportunities that are impossible to pass up. All around are ruins—empty pedestals, cracked flagstones, broken pillars, and shattered sculptures hint at the magnificence of Trajan’s Forum, now fenced off and closed to the public, a testament to past imperial glory. The museum purchased the cast for £301 15s 2d, and it was originally displayed in a series of small sections. Trajan’s Market was built by Roman Emperor Trajan. 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