Colonna di Traiano (Trajan's Column)

Colonna di Traiano (Trajan's Column) Review

The remarkable series of reliefs spiraling up this column celebrate the emperor's victories over the Dacians in what is today Romania. It has stood in this spot since AD 113. The scenes on the column are an important primary source for information on the Roman army and its tactics. An inscription on the base declares that the column was erected in Trajan's honor and that its height corresponds to the height of the hill that was razed to create a level area for the grandiose Foro di Traiano. The emperor's ashes, no longer here, were kept in a golden urn in a chamber at the column's base, and his statue stood atop the column until 1587, when the pope had it replaced with a statue of St. Peter.