Trajan, the 2nd of the Five Good Emperors, served in the Roman Empire’s expansion during the second century A.D. Trajan ruled from A.D. 98 until his death in A.D. 117. Before he was emperor, Trajan was an army commander, senator, and governor of upper Germany. Trajan was the first Roman emperor born outside of Italy. Italica (Seville in modern-day Spain). He was also one of the first emperors to be chosen, rather than to inherit power as part of a ruling family.

1. Forum Of
Trajan,
Rome
Aabhika Samantaray
2020701001
First year, 2nd semester.

2. Who was TRAJAN?  Trajan, the 2nd of the
Five Good Emperors,
served in the Roman
Empire’s expansion during
the second century A.D.
 Trajan was the first
Roman emperor born
outside of Italy.
Italica (Seville in modern-
day Spain),
 He was also one
of the first
emperors to be
chosen, rather
than to inherit
power as part of
a ruling family.
Trajan ruled from A.D. 98 until
his death in A.D. 117.
 Before he was emperor,
Trajan was an army
commander, senator, and
governor of upper Germany.
 These experiences helped him
gain the support of both the
sitting emperor, Nerva, who
named him as his successor,
and generals of the Roman
army.
Roman government
recognized that the
standard of excellence in
either a law or a work of
art
Art also served the state
– praising the virtues and
deeds of the emperors
Art became truly public –
bridges, baths, theaters,
public exhibitions in
squares and public
artworks geared

3. What is Forum? A FORUM is a large public space within the city that would include
• libraries,
• temples,
• a large open area for congregating and
• an adjoining market place.
The new forum glorified
Trajan’s victories against the
Dacians – which paid for his
building program in Rome

4. 4
Trajan’s
Forum
on Map

5. 5
Plan of FORUM OF TRAJAN
IMPERIAL FORE
HAND
SKETCHED

6. Why was it created?
o HISTORICAL EVENTS: The Roman defeat
of the Dacians. It took two military
campaigns to victory ensure and
reinforced the Roman’s intolerance for
uprising and challenge
o CONCEPTS AND IDEAS: Rome lead to
victory over the Dacians by the calm,
organized army lead by the steady rule
of their emperor –
•
Function: Educational and
entertainment of the masses. Through the
visual reading of the artwork they could
place themselves in the campaign. Trajan
chose the monument as the site of his
burial – his ashes are in a chamber below
the column.

7.  The Forum of the final imperial forum, was both the largest and the most
lavish.
 Inaugurated in 112 C.E.
 The elaborate forum complex has a vast footprint, measuring 200 x 120
meters.
 Architect: Apollodorus of Damascus
 Construction for the forum and basilica began in 106/107 AD and was
completed in 112 AD.
 The next year the markets and column were inaugurated.
 The temple is thought to have been included in the original design, but it
was not completed until 11 years after Trajan’s death in 128 AD.
 Different from all the other forums, Apollodorus included a basilica as
the background for the square instead of the temple.
 A temple was included in the design, but this was added after Trajan’s
death by his successor Hadrian.
ABOUT THE FORUM OF TRAJAN (Forum Traiani)

8. How is the space visually organised?
o Central axis, proportional and symmetrical.
o Each building is unified with the next to create a
flowing and fully integrated space.
o Enter through the grand archway facing the
emperor’s equestrian statue.
o The open square of the forum is flanked by porticoes
that contain exedra and point viewer attention toward
the main structure, the massive Basilica Ulpia - hall
of justice.
o Apses housed law courts.
o On the western side of the basilica was another
courtyard, flanked by two libraries (one Greek and one
Latin) , that contained a monumental honorific column,
known today as the Column of Trajan.
o Directly behind it is his temple
1. Temple of TRAJAN
2. Column of TRAJAN
3. Two libraries (one Greek and one Latin)
4. Basilica Ulpia
5. Courtyard
6. Emperor’s equestrian statue

9. Materials used to build.
o Much of the site was built utilizing existing materials found within or nearby Rome.
o Tuff deposits are naturally prevalent in the area.
o This type of rock was named peperino and is the product of volcanic deposits that
happened long before hills of Rome were settled, approximately 500,000 years ago.
o Travertine, a porous calcium carbonate, could easily be quarried or mined in nearby
Tivoli.
o This stone was easy to cut into workable shapes for building.
o Marble could be found in Northern Italy.

10. ROMAN CONCRETE
o Roman’s understanding and ability to use concrete was a new step in the field of engineering.
o Earlier societies had been limited to the use of post and lintel construction: a horizontal member supported at its
ends by two vertical members. A famous example of this can be seen in the Greek Parthenon.
o Much of the building at this time in history consisted of bricks.
o These bricks were mass manufactured and each one was stamped with the manufactures seal, as they were
responsible for its quality.
o Standardized sized clay bricks were used for the form of structures and were filled in with concrete.
o The concrete that the Romans used was considerably weaker than the concrete used today
o The Roman’s burnt limestone and volcanic ash, such as the abundant volcanic ash tuff, to produce quicklime.
o Vitruvius’s De Architectura (~15 BC) sites the proportions as 3 parts ash to 1 part lime.
o It was then combined with water to create a paste.
o Next, larger aggregate such as chunks of debris, rocks, or brick were added to create concrete.
o These were common, but the Romans used many different types of aggregate.

11. COLUMN
o made from fine-grained Luna marble.
o Total Height:35 metres (115 feet) including its
large pedestal.
o The shaft of the column is composed of 19
drums of marble measuring c. 3.7 meters (11
feet) in diameter, weighing a total of c. 1,110
tons.
o The topmost drum weighs some 53 tons.
o A spiral staircase of 185 steps leads to the
viewing platform atop the column.
o The helical sculptural frieze measures 190
meters in length (c. 625 feet) and wraps
around the column 23 times.
o A total of 2,662 figures appear in the 155
scenes of the frieze, with Trajan himself
featured in 58 scenes.
 The relief is a valuable source of information
on the Roman army.
 It described about TRAJAN’s war with Dacians.
 Mainly focused on Roman Army’s way of
preparation.
a hill of peak height 115 feet was removed to build
the Forum for which, Apollodorus kept the
column’s height same as the hill and located it
where the peak of hill was.

12. The Dacian weapon captured by Trajan
Coloured with Primary Colours
Four owls
in the
corners
IMAGE
GALLERY

13. Basilica Ulpia
o As an architectural type is uniquely Roman.
o served various civic and juridical purposes.
o The planners from the first century B.C.E. onwards had been to
prefer to use the basilica as a framing device, so as to have it
communicate with the flanks of a forum square. We see this in many
cases, although with some variation.
o In the case of the Forum of Trajan the massive and monumental
Basilica Ulpia is constructed at the northern edge of the open
courtyard. It thus serves to bisect the complex, with the portico-lined
courtyard lying to its east and the libraries and the Column of
Trajan to its west.
o The basilica is massive—its overall length is some 169 meters and the
interior nave is 25 meters wide.
o It is apsidal at both ends, with a raised central floor, and the main
hall has a double surround of columns (96 in total) that were
probably of white or yellow marble, in the Corinthian order.
o The basilica was also famous in antiquity for its gilded bronze roof
tiles, as commented on by Pausanias, who remarked that the building
was “worth seeing not only for its general beauty but especially for
its roof made of bronze”
Artist’s view of exterior elevation

14. IMAGE
GALLERY
THERE WERE SCULPTURES OF CAPTURED DACIAN ALL THROUGHOUT THE BASILICA AND PORTICO

15. ENTRANCE AND MAIN SQUARE
o The main square of the forum was once a vast space, screened by architecture on all sides and
paved in white marble.
o Several rows of trees, and perhaps rows of statues, ran parallel to the porticoes.
o Entry to the forum square was from the south, by way of a triumphal arch surmounted by a
statue of Trajan riding in a triumphal chariot.
o Although the arch itself is no longer extant, it is depicted on a coin issued.
o The forum square (116 x 95 meters) has an overriding martial theme, reminding viewers and
visitors that the forum was constructed from the proceeds (manubiae) of Trajan’s successful
military campaigns against the Dacians .
o The porticoes were decorated with statuary and military standards, as described by the ancient
author Aulus Gellius: “All along the roof of the colonnades of the forum of Trajan gilded
statues of horses and representations of military standards are placed, and underneath is
written Ex manubiis [from the spoils of war] ...” (Attic Nights 13.25.1).

16. The Markets of Trajan o a separate architectural complex.
o This multi-level commercial complex was built against the
flank of the Quirinal Hill which had to be excavated for the
purposeThe ruins of the markets today preserve 170 rooms.
o The complex covers a space of approximately 110 by 150
meters.
o its walls stood to 35 meters above the level of the pavement
of the Forum of Trajan.
o The original extension is hard to ascertain, based in part
upon subsequent re-use and construction in the Medieval
period (and later).
o The archaeologist Corrado Ricci (1858-1934) cleared the
ruins in the twentieth century, but the markets themselves
have received comparatively less attention than the
adjacent forum.
o The function of the markets was mercantile—indeed the
markets may have been designed to relocate shops
(tabernae) and offices that were displaced by the Trajanic
building project.
o The ground floor offices (at the forum level) were likely
occupied by cashiers of the imperial treasury (arcarii
caesariani).
o while upper level rooms may been leased out or used by
imperial officials associated with the grain dole (annona).

17. CONSTRUCTION
o Made of concrete and
brick.(fireproof)
o Groin vaulted levels. (6)
o Floor levels added in middle ages; it
was fortified for defensive
purposes.
o No windows for light coming.

18. WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE IF RECONSTRUCTED?
Entrance Gate
Column of Trajan
Libraries
Use of primary colours for decoration

19. Basilica Ulpia

20. Portico
Statues of captured dacians
Use of primary colours
for decoration

21. thanks!
21