TRAJAN'S COLUMN

Narrative sculpture. Lower portion of Trajan's Column, marble, Rome, c. AD monument erected AD 106113 by the Roman emperor Trajan and surviving intact in the ruins of Trajan's Forum in Rome. A marble column of the Roman Doric order, it measures 125 feet (38 m) high together with the pedestal, or base, within which there is a chamber that served as Trajan's tomb. Originally the column stood in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by galleries from which one could view at various levels the spiral band (over 800 feet long and about 4 feet wide) covered with low-relief sculpture that forms a continuous narrative of the emperor's two campaigns in Dacia. A spiral staircase is contained within the shaft's interior, which measures 12 feet 2 inches (3.7 m) in diameter. At first a bronze eagle had been placed on top of the column and then after Trajan's death a bronze statue of the deceased emperor, which was replaced in 1588 by a statue of St. Peter.