THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN.
A magnificent marble pillar, the pedestal of which concealed the chamber where the ashes of the emperor were deposited. The bas-reliefs on the basement are among the most beautiful decorations of ancient or modern times; they represent the arms taken from the Dacians, against whom Trajan had made several campaigns. It marks the height of the Quirinal Hill, cut away to make the open space for the Forum of Trajan in which it stands. A series of bas-reliefs, representing the Dacian war, forms a spiral round the shaft of the pillar. Erected A.D. 114. It is 127 feet high, including the base, and is surmounted by a statue of S. Peter, 11 feet high, placed there by Sixtus V. in the sixteenth century.
The pillar is composed of thirty-four blocks of white marble. The reliefs are two feet high at the bottom, and gradually increase in size as they go upwards, thus making the figures at the top and bottom seem of equal size. There are two thousand five hundred figures, besides animals and other details.
Dion Cassius (Xiphilin, Trajan) says: "He erected in the forum that bears his name a vast pillar, as well to serve as a receptacle for his bones as to be a monument of his magnificence to posterity. In good earnest, it was a piece of work that could not be finished without extraordinary expense, because it was necessary to cut through a mountain as high as the pillar, to make the level for the forum."
PLAN OF THE FORUM OF TRAJAN.
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"The bones of Trajan were put into the pillar we have mentioned; and, to reverence his memory, sports were celebrated for several years after, which were called Parthica" (Dion Cassius, "Hadrian").
"Trajan, of all the emperors, was buried within the city. His bones, being put up in a golden urn, lie in the forum which he built, under a pillar, whose height is 144 feet, Roman" (Eutropius).
Going down the Via Alessandrina, which commences at the left-hand corner of the above forum, as we come into it, take the first turning on the left, Via Campo Carleo. The gate on the left leads to the double row of shops that surrounded the Forum of Trajan. Custodi at the Forum. Following this street, we pass the medieval Torre del Grillo on our left. On our right are massive remains of the Second Wall of Rome. (See [page xviii] .) Turning to the right under the arch, we are within