Daily Updates
Week Eight: 9 November
9 November. Julie Chang Reporting
The Forum of Trajan is currently located along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, next to the Forum of Augustus and Trajan's Markets. The forum is only partially excavated revealing the large rectangular courtyard, an exedra, a portion of the Basilica Ulpia, and Trajan's Column. Two libraries flanking the column have also been excavated but cannot be seen from street level. The rest of the forum remains unexcavated under the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Construction on the forum began in A.D. 106 after the completion of Trajan's Dacian campaigns. The forum paid for ex manubiis, from the war spoils, with the exception of the basilica which was paid for by Trajan. The design of the forum belongs to Trajan's architect, Apollodorus, who was also responsible for Trajan's Baths and Markets. Dedicated in January A.D. 112, the forum was the largest of the imperial fora, measuring more than 200m wide and 600m long. Controversy arises with Frank Sear's opinion that Domitian actually began clearing the area for a new building complex. The area had to be cleared of a ridge that ran between the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills, becoming the foundation of the Markets. With Domitian's death, Trajan took over the project and built his forum. The forum is entered from the Forum of Augustus through an entranceway that resembles a triumphal arch, with a bronze statue of Trajan in a quadriga, a four-horse chariot above the entrance. The presence of such a statue, which has no physical remains left, is known from coins minted at the time. After entering, the first area to be reached would be the large rectangular courtyard that would have been paved in white Italian marble. In the middle of this rectangle would have been an equestrian statue of Trajan in military garb. The two lateral sides of the rectangle would have been bordered with two story porticoes that were 112m x 14.8m. Coming off the porticoes would have been an exedrae on each side, which are then mirrored in the exedrae of the Basilica Ulpia. The forum was dominated at the north end by the large Basilica Ulpia, named so from Trajan's family name. The Basilica Ulpia was 176m x 59m without the exedrae with an inner nave. Depictions of the Basilica Ulpia have been found on coins which reveal the frontal exterior of three upper story porches with statuary. Behind the Basilica Ulpia is the Column of Trajan framed by a Greek and Roman library on the left and right. The column depicts the Dacian campaigns in which the standards lost by Domitian were recovered and resulted in the suicide of Decebalus, the Dacian king, and also serves as Trajan's tomb. The column marks the original height of the ridge that was removed to clear the land. Supposedly the Temple of Deified Trajan stood to the north of the column, although no physical evidence remains. An extremely large column shaft has been found, which may belong to the temple. The facade of the temple is known only from the Severan Marble Plan of the city, and was built after the death of Trajan by Hadrian, so could not have been an original part of the plan of the forum. The forum served as a military triumphal monument with its many representations of captured and slain Dacians intermingled with the glory of the empire. The forum also reflects the conservatism found in the Forum of Augustus, and gave Rome another grand forum.
Plan of Trajan's Forum.
The body of a captured Dacian soldier carved from Phrygian purple marble, who would have been supporting the upper colonnades of the porticoes.
The remnants of a decorative shield that would have held the portrait of a past emperor or empress. These shields would alternate with scenes of the Dacian campaigns in the attic story of the porticoes and facade of the Basilica Ulpia.
A partial view of the eastern exedra with its remaining peperino tufa wall, originally built at a height that equals the red brick Markets behind. The tufa wall would have prevented fire from affecting the forum, and creates a firm division between the forum and Trajan's Markets.
A fallen column found in the Basilica Ulpia made of Phrygian purple marble. This is an excellent example of a fluted column.
The remnants of the Numidian yellow marble flooring in the Basilica Ulpia. The floor was also paved with Phrygian purple and Lucullan red and black marble.
A view of the aisle between the first colonnade in the Basilica Ulpia and the colonnade marking the central nave. Only the bases of the first colonnade exist, while a few of the second colonnade have been re-erected.
A view down the central nave of the Basilica Ulpia. There are a few remnants of the original marble flooring of the Basilica Ulpia, which can be seen in the background. The metal markings allow for the restoration of the floor, which can be seen in the foreground.
An overall view of the Basilica Ulpia and Column of Trajan from the southern end of the forum. Beyond the Column of Trajan now lies a church, under which may be the remains of the Temple of Deified Trajan.
The Column of Trajan, now with a statue of St. Peter at the top, placed there in 1588 and made into papal Rome's first archaeological monument.
A massive grey Egyptian granite monolithic column. The column is found north of the Column of Trajan suggesting that it may have belonged to the Temple of Deified Trajan.
Bibliography
Anderson, James. Roman Architecture and Society. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1997. Claridge, Amanda. Rome. Oxford: Oxford, 1998. MacDonald, William. The Architecture of the Roman Empire. Yale University Press: New Haven, 1982. Sear, Frank. Roman Architecture. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1982.