Trajan's Forum again:

the Column and the Temple of Trajan in the

master plan attributed to Apollodorusf?)1
James E. Packer
Two of the most important monuments of Trajan's famous Forum (fig.l), the Column which
bears his name and the Temple dedicated to his divus, have suffered very different fates. As
sole survivor of the buildings in its originally elegant architectural context, the largely intact
Column (fig.2), rising above the marble and concrete rubble of the Forum,2 still attracts the
attention of both tourists and scholars.3 Buried 5 m under the Churches of St. Mary of Loreto and
the Name of Mary and the Valentini Palace (fig-3), the ruins of the Temple and its precinct
have utterly disappeared from view.4 Yet, over the last two decades, with respect to the
conceptual relationships between the Column and Temple (fig. 1.1) and the plan of the Forum of
Trajan as a whole, certain scholars have begun to construct a new consensus which may be
briefly summarized as follows.5

1 Dio Cassius 69.4, 1-6; Proc., Aed. 4.6, 13. W. MacDonald The architecture of the Roman empire (2nd
ed., New Haven 1982) 1, 129-36, discusses the passage in Dio and gives a full bibliography on
Apollodorus up to 1965. MacDonald's "Roman architects," in S. Kostof (ed.), The architect.
Chapters in the history of the profession (New York 1977) 44-51, and "Apollodorus," Macmillan
encyclopedia of architects (New York 1982) 1, 91-94, update this earlier essay. F. Lepper and S. Frere,
Trajan's column (Gloucester 1988) 187-93 review the evidence for attributing the design of the
Forum of Trajan to Apollodorus.
2 Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 7 whimsically (if accurately) describe the site as "a flattened area, half
municipal gardens, half drowned forest in appearance, as the allees of the via del Impero and the
foundations of the Imperial Fora compete for definition along different axes .... [an] area ...
frequented mainly by scholars and tourists, inhabited only by cats."
3 The literature on the Column is extensive. For older references see Platner-Ashby 242-44 and Nash
1, 283. These are now supplemented by S. Settis (ed.), La colonna traiana (Torino 1988); G. Agosti, V.
Farinella, G. Simoncini (edd.), La colonna traiana e gli artisti francesi da Luigi XIV a Napoleone I
(Roma 1988); Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) xiii-xviii (select bibliography). All are reviewed by J.
Coulston, 'Three new books on Trajan's Column," JRA 3 (1990) 290-309 (bibliography 308-9). The
Column is also treated in L. Richardson, jr. A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome
(Baltimore 1992) 176-77,178. The most recent articles are A. Claridge, "Hadrian's Column of Trajan,"
JRA 6 (1993) 5-22 and M. Wilson Jones, "One hundred feet and a spiral stair: the problem of
designing Trajan's Column," JRA 6 (1993) 23-38.
4 But have been excavated intermittently from the 16th through the 19th c. For accounts of these
excavations see P. Pensabene et al., "Foro Traiano. Contributi per una ricostruzione storica e
architettonica," ArchCi 41 (1989) 85-100 and J. Packer, The Forum of Trajan in Rome: a study of the
monuments (Berkeley and Los Angeles, forthcoming) 1, chapts. 1, 2. In Chapt. 4, n.36, Packer
identifies the known fragments of the Temple as follows (the first number in the list infra is the
Comune di Roma inventory number (if assigned by 1992); the second is that of Packer's catalogue of
architectural fragments). From the porch of the pronaos (recovered along the line of its facade)
come the upper sections of 2 large-scale gray granite shafts (Inv. 3721, Cat. 50, Inv. 2848, Cat. 50A), a
corresponding Corinthian capital (Inv. 3720, Cat. 89), and a monumental cornice with modillions
(Cat. 172, now in the garden of Villa Albani).
5 Although some of the arguments used here appear also in Packer (supra n.4), the publication of
Claridge (supra n.3) seems to have crystallized the new and, in some respects, iconoclastic approach
to the Column and Temple summarized infra. Not previously treated as a whole, this approach
clearly merits further discussion.
 164

Fig. 1.The imperial fora, restored plan after the excavations of 1928-34. Forum of Trajan: 1. Temple of Trajan; 2. Bibliotheca Ulpia, west library; 3.
Bibliotheca Ulpia, east library; 4. west apse of the Basilica Ulpia; 5. east apse of the Basilica Ulpia; 6. west hemicycle; 7. west colonnade; 8. east
colonnade; 9. east hemicycle; 10. Great Hall of the Markets of Trajan. 11. Temple of Peace; 12. hall where the Forma Urbis was exhibited. (Revised
drawing based on an original by I. Gismondi in A. M. Colini, “Notizario di scavi, scoperte e studi intomo alle antichita di Roma e del Lazio
1931-1932-1933,” BullCom 61 [1933]” 256 [Pl. A])
 Trajan's Forum again 165

Fig.2. The Basilica Ulpia and the Column of Trajan, looking north, before 1928. (Fototeca Unione).

A. The Column and Temple of Trajan in some recent scholarship

Hadrian probably did not move to the Column to its present location from the east
hemicycle (fig.1.9),6 but the libraries (fig. 1.2,3), the peristyle between them, and the Column
were in Trajan's day the final monuments planned on the north side of the Forum.7 In fact, the
Column originally marked the SE end of the Via Lata since "No building between the road and
the Column is known to have existed prior to the construction of the Temple of the Deified
Trajan"8 (fig.1.1). When Trajan died in A.D. 117, after locating Trajan's ashes in the base of the

6 As suggested by L. Richardson, ArchNews 6 (1977) 106; id., New topographical dictionary (supra n.3)
177; criticized by J. Anderson, The historical topography of the imperial fora (Collection Latomus 182,
1984)157.
7 M. Boatwright, Hadrian and the city of Rome (Princeton 1987) 83-94; Claridge (supra n.3) 20, 22.
8 Boatwright (supra n.7) 85. For a schematic plan of the imperial city, see G. Lugli, Pianta di Roma
antica (Roma 1940) no page number. This plan and that given by Boatwright 86 (fig.17) show that, in
fact, the Column of Trajan lies to the southeast of the axis of the Via Lata, while the buildings on the
Via Lata naturally respond to its orientation. Even if all the known buildings along the Via Lata are
post-Trajanic or later, as Boatwright asserts, further excavation would probably indicate that, since
the Campus Martius developed rapidly after the reign of Augustus (F. Castagnoli, Topografia e
urbanistica di Roma antica [2nd ed., Bologna 1969] 24-28), these structures had earlier predecessors.
Thus, as made abundantly clear by a stroll down the modern Corso, which runs along the line of the
Via Lata some meters above the ancient level, the visual focus at the end of the Via Lata was not the
Column of Trajan but the Temple of Juno Moneta on the Arx (now buried below the garden of the
church of St. Mary in Aracoeli: F. Coarelli, Il Foro romano. Periodo arcaico [2nd ed., Roma 1986] 104).
 166

Fig.3. Aerial view of the Forum of Trajan (1986). Behind the Column of Trajan (hidden by scaffolding) the Valentini Palace separates the domed
churches of the Madonna of Loreto (1) and the Name of Mary (r). (Getty Center.)
 Trajan's Forum again 167

Column of Trajan in a room previously

Fig.4. Statue (of Trajan?) found in the east
hemicycle. (Packer Cat. 192; J. Packer).
intended for the "display of select spoils
from the Dacian Wars/'9 Hadrian installed
the famous spiral reliefs on the previously
undecorated shaft of the Column. This overly
elaborate frieze has subsequently obscured
the handsome, if plain, architectonic design
of the monument.1011 Moreover, since Trajan
had scrupulously respected the prejudices of
the senatorial nobility, his plan for the
Forum (as conceived by the celebrated Apol-
lodorus of Damascus?) could not have
included, in his lifetime, a temple consecra­
ted to his own divus.u Thus, Hadrian con­
ceived, built, and, 11 years after Trajan's
death (128), dedicated the Temple of the
Divine Trajan (fig.1.1).12
Ingenious though they are, these
arguments have not convinced everyone,13 and
in some respects, they are seriously flawed.
To see how, we may first consider the role
played by Column and Temple in Forum of
Trajan as a whole and then review the chief
characteristics of its Master Plan.

B. The Significance of Trajan's Column in Apollodorus'(?) plan

In design and decoration, the Column was carefully integrated into this Master Plan. Thus,
with respect to its iconography, the Column, like the other monuments of the Forum, had
several important functions.14

1. The Column as axis-marker

Rising above the gilded roof of the 100-foot high Basilica Ulpia, the gilded colossus of
Trajan, a sacred icon at least 4 m high, visibly presided over and protected the architectural
splendors of his Forum. This statue may have resembled the one of the emperor found in the
east hemicycle (figs.1.9, 4),15 and the Column on which it stood marked a central axis

9 Lepper and Frere (supra n.2) 223 quoted by Claridge (supra n.3) 11.
10 Claridge (supra n.3) 15.
11 J. Ward-Perkins, "Columna divi Antonini," Melanges d'histoire ancienne et d'archeologie offerts b
Paul Collart (Lausanne 1976) 351-52; Boatwright (supra n.7) 92-93; Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 199.
12 Boatwright (supra n.7) 88-94; C. Amici, Foro di Traiano: Basilica Ulpia e biblioteche (Spoleto 1982) 76;
Claridge (supra n.3) 21-22.
13 Ward-Perkins (supra n.ll) 345-352, followed by Lepper and Fere (supra n.l) 197-203; Packer (supra
n.4) 1, Appendix XI, "Temple of Trajan."
14 Cf. Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 19; Settis (supra n.3) 49-56; Claridge (supra n.3) 9-13.
15 Representations on Trajanic bronze, silver, and gold coins show that this bare-headed figure
wearing a cuirass faced south and, inclining slightly towards its right side, held a spear in its left
hand. A draped cloak partially concealed its extended right arm, and the right hand held an orb
surmounted by a winged victory: Packer (supra n.4), 1, chapt. 4, n.21. The head survived in the rubble
at the base of the Column until the 16th c. Then discovered and measured, it subsequently
168 James E. Packer

emphasized by the ubiquitous images of Trajan which everywhere greeted the ancient visitor:
in the two seiuges (six-horse chariots) on the facades of the Central Arch at the entry to the
Forum,16 on the Equus Traiani at its center,17 in the quadriga on the middle south porch of the
Basilica Ulpia,18 atop the Column, on the pediment of the Temple, on its apex, and inside the
Temple.

2. The Column as billboard

In the peristyle around the Column of Trajan, as in the other parts of the Forum, the visual
propaganda in both the friezes on the entablatures and in those on the pedestal and shaft of
the Column explained the purpose of the area. On the exterior and interior entablatures of the
enclosing colonnade, the friezes identified the precinct of a hero's tomb (infra §3). For the
militarily sophisticated, the piles of weapons on the base of the Column distinguished the
hero's chief enemies.19 For the semi-literate,20 the reliefs on the shaft told, in concise
abbreviation, the story of those great events in the Dacian wars which had forever assured the
fame of the dead hero. A pictorial explanation of the piles of captured enemy weapons on both
the pedestal of the Column and the south (Forum) facade of the Basilica Ulpia,21 these spiral

disappeared. In P. S. Bartoli, Colonna traiana ... con I'esposizione Latina d'Alfonso Ciaccone (Roma
1690) 2, sec. 14, Ciaccone gives its height as 2 1/2 Roman feet (0.685 m), suggesting that the statue
was about the same size as the existing statue of the Apostle Peter sculpted by Leonardo Sorman
and Tommaso della Porta: A. Nibby, Roma nell'anno 1838,11, Antica (Roma 1839) 220; Packer, 1,
Appendix 7, "Statue of Trajan." The statue of the emperor from the east hemicycle is Cat. 192 (supra
n.4). P. Zanker, "Das Trajansforum in Rom," AA 85 (1970) 517,518 (fig.28).
16 In pl.16 of his reconstruction of 1867, J. Guadet (reproduced in Roma antiqua [supra n.4] 204) and M.
Pensa, "L'architettura traianea attraverso le emission! monetali coeve," Centro Studi e
Documentazione sull'Italia Romana, Atti 2 (1969-70) 277, sensibly suggest that there were 2 chariot
groups on top of the central arch, one for each facade. This accords better with Roman architectural
practice than Richardson's proposal that this arch had only one facade turned toward the interior of
the Forum: Richardson, Topographical dictionary (supra n.6) 175.
17 Amm. Marc. 16.10.15-16. The site of this statue is still unexcavated but it appears on a large number
of contemporary coins in bronze, silver, and gold. In coins of one variant, Trajan is mounted on a
sedately-striding horse. On the other coins, the emperor battles one or more fallen Dacians who beg
for his mercy. Zanker (supra n.15) 505 (figs. 8, 9) Which of these quite different representations
depicts the Equus Traiani?
Pointing out that coins of the first variant were part of a series which commemorated the other
monuments of the Forum, Zanker has chosen this group, arguing that the Equus Traiani will have
been the successor of and answer to the equestrian statue of Domitian in the Roman Forum: Zanker
(supra n.15) 508-9; cf. Pensabene et al. (supra n.4) 125 n.l, 261-62; Packer (supra n.4) 1, chapt. 3, nn. 34-
35, frontispiece, reproduced several times;: J. Packer and K. Sarring, ’’Restoring Trajan's Forum,"
Inland architect 34.5 (1990) 60-61, and iid., "Il Foro di Traiano," Archeo 7.11 (1992) 70-71. Moreover,
since these coins, and the contemporary issues which depict the Basilica Ulpia and the central arch,
were struck in Trajan's 6th consulship (112), the year in which the Forum was dedicated (infra nn.64-
66), while coins of the other variants bear the dates of the 5th consulship (103), the year between the
first and second Dacian wars, we should probably accept Zanker's sensible suggestion.
18 The quadriga appears on Variants I-IV on the reverses of the Trajanic coins which show the south
(Forum) faqade of the Basilica Ulpia (infra n.66). On Variant 5 it is replaced by a biga: BMCRE, 3, no.
983.
19 Ch. Percier (d. 1838), Colonne Trajane (Rome), restauration executee en 1788, Restaurations des
Monuments Antiques (Paris 1877) pls.3-6, recently republished in Roma Antiqua (supra n.4) 147-149,
shows the sides of the base as they would have appeared in antiquity. Zanker (supra n.15) 524
identifies the weapons as those of the Dacians and the Roxolani.
20 As W. Harris, Ancient literacy (Cambridge, MA 1989) 175-284, has recently reminded us, literacy was
not so widespread in Roman times as we sometimes suppose.
21 Supra n.19; infra n.26.
 Trajan's Forum again 169

reliefs eternally memorialized the achievements of the hero whose ashes were deposited in
the burial chamber in the pedestal and visually linked the position of the burial chamber to
that of the massive bronze colossus above.22 And finally, on the north facade of the Basilica
Ulpia opposite the Column, the imposing reliefs of the "Great Frieze of Trajan" gratified the
curiosity of the pious by magnifying and spotlighting some of the more important events of the
Dacian Wars which were not clearly visible on the shaft of the Column 23

3. The Column as heroon and tomb

Although not part of the original design of the Forum,24 the Column of Trajan was closely
integrated by Apollodorus or "the Column committee"25 into the iconography of both the
Basilica Ulpia and its flanking peristyle. That weapons identical to those on the base of the
Column but in higher relief were depicted on the attic of the south (Forum) facade of the
Basilica Ulpia shows that both Basilica and Column were essential parts of the same
conception.26 As ancient Greek personifications of the defeat of the enemy, the tauroctonous
victories in the interior of the Basilica Ulpia (fig.5) not only referred specifically to the
political victory of the emperor over foreigners but also perhaps commemorated the victories of
Augustus, the founder of the Empire to whose iconography Trajan constantly looked back.27 As
victimariae and cult votaries, these goddesses recalled the sacrifices made to the genius of the
emperor. Yet, while they evoked imperial loyalty and patriotism, they were also connected
with Trajan's burial and apotheosis. Symbolizing victory over death,28 they clearly
anticipated the nearby heroon in the base of the Column of Trajan and the future grandiose
Temple of the Deified Trajan.
On the attic of the north facade of the Basilica Ulpia, the so-called Great Frieze of Trajan
celebrated the difficulties and achievements of the wars in Dacia,29 and in each of the serial-

22 Thus it is hard to agree with Claridge (supra n.3) that the frieze was "excessively ornamental" (p.15)
and "wrecked the architectural character of the original building" (p.22). Whatever its effect on
moderns, the frieze on the Column was in many respects not markedly dissimilar in style and
character to the other sculptural ornamentation of the Forum — even if executed by a separate
group of sculptors: P. Rockwell, "Preliminary study of the carving techniques on the Column of
Trajan," in P. Pensabene (ed.), Marmi antichi (StMisc 26, 1981-83) 104.
23 Infra n.29.
24 Ward-Perkins (supra n.ll) 348, n.20, quoting G. Boni, "Esplorazione del Forum Ulpium," NotSc 1907,
361-408.
25 Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 19.
26 Amici (supra n.12) 22-23; Pensabene et al. (supra n.4) 215-36.
27 According to A. H. Borbein, Campanareliefs: typologische und stilkritische Untersuchungen
(RomMitt Erg. 14, 1968) 63, Augustus had already used tauroctonous victories on his coinage (and
perhaps in now lost reliefs) to celebrate his victories in Armenia in 19/18 B.C. The preserved
fragments of the frieze from the Basilica Ulpia are in Rome (Inv. [supra n.4] 3197, 3198, Packer Cat.
136, 129); Paris (Musee du Louvre MA307; Packer Cat. 124) and Munich (Glyptothek W348; Packer
Cat. 109).
28 Borbein (supra n.27) 112-15.
29 Zanker (supra n.15) 517, and A.-M. Leander Touati, The Great Trajanic frieze (SkrRom, ser. 4, No. 45,
Stockholm 1987) 90, suggest that it was inside the attic of the east colonnade; cf. D. Kleiner, Roman
sculpture (New Haven 1992) 221: "a wall inside the porticoes of the Forum proper." Leander Touati
points out that, from the details of its carving, the frieze was originally intended for a position at least
15 m. above the ground (or floor). Yet, the backs of the blocks of the attic of the East Colonnade are
roughly finished and did not abut other slabs or blocks: Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 4, "Exterior
attic. The surviving evidence," fig.61; 3, Folio 31, reproduced several times (infra nn.50, 52). The space
between the two orders in the Basilica Ulpia could not have provided adequate space for the so-
called Great Frieze of Trajan, which was 2.98 m. high: M. Pallottino, "11 grande fregio di Traiano,"
BullCom 66 (1938) 23; Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.54; 3, Folio 25, reproduced in Packer and Sarring
170 James E. Packer

Fig.5 (above). Frieze of winged victories from the interior of the Basilica Ulpia, slabs now in Munich.
(Glyptothek, Studio Koppermann).
Fig.6 (below). Frieze of griffins from the peristyle around the column of Trajan. (Musee du Louvre No.
986, Cat. No. 108, F. Albertolli, Fregi trovati negli scavi del Foro Trajano con altri esistenti in Roma ed
in diverse altre cittd [Milano 1838] pl. 7).
ly repeated scenes on the facade of the portico around the Column of Trajan, the 2 griffins
(fig.6) called to mind Trajan's interests in the East.30 More importantly, as the attendants of
Nemesis, whose sharp eagle's eyes and pointed ears saw and heard everything, these griffins
stood for divine vengeance.31 In the virtually identical scenes on the interior of the colonnade,

"Trajan's Forum" (supra n.17) 62 and in Packer and Sarring (supra n.17), "Foro di Traiano" 84-85.
The attic which masked the rise of the vault above the entablature on the north facade of the
Basilica Ulpia was, however, about 6 m. high and would have offered an area of sufficient height and
length for both the frieze and a suitable base and cornice. In Pensabene et al. (supra n.4) 254 (fig. 8),
267-68, S. Stucchi, reaches similar conclusions, although he assumes (p. 285) that the wall on which
the frieze was located lacked pilasters and he apparently positions the frieze (p. 284, fig.29) lower on
the same wall. Cf. Kleiner, 221: either "the interior or exterior of the Basilica Ulpia."
30 The fragments of this frieze are in Rome and Paris: Inv. (supra n.4) 4000, Packer Cat. 125; Musee du
Louvre MA 3129, MA 986, Packer Cat. 107,108.
31 E. Simon, "Zur Bedeutung des Greifen in der Kunst der Kaiserzeit," Latomus 21 (1962) 770-71.
 Trajan's Forum again 171

sphinxes took the place of the griffins.32 Likewise messengers of divine justice,33 they too were
connected with great Hellenic gods — Apollo, Dionysus, and Aphrodite — but they were also
apotropaic. Reminding the viewer that he was in the precinct of a hero's tomb,34 they stressed
again Trajan's connections with Augustus for whom the sphinx had been a favorite symbol35
Thus they obliquely referred to Augustus' deification; and, by implication, they subtlely
anticipated that of Trajan.
This close harmonization of the subjects in the friezes in the main nave of the Basilica
Ulpia, on its north facade, in the peristyle around the Column of Trajan, and on the shaft of the
Column were anything but the result of later incidental 'retro-fitting'.36 Indeed, the spiral
friezes on the shaft of the Column, far from being an addition of Hadrian, were an important
and necessary part of Apollodorus' (?) iconography. Thus, of the three functions the ancients
attributed to the Column — heroon, height marker, and tomb37 — the last was perhaps the
most important, although tradition dictated that Trajan could hardly have revealed this
purpose publicly when he dedicated the Column.

C. The significance of the Temple of Trajan in Apollodorus (?) plan

On a low (presumably gilded) dome on
the circular pedestal which rested on the
Tuscan capital of the Column (fig.7),38
the Colossus of Trajan not only clearly
marked the position of his heroon and
tomb, but also, to an ancient visitor at the
south entrances to the Forum, hinted at
the existence of the colossal Temple of
Trajan to the north (fig.1.1). Since the
plan of the Forum of Trajan appears to
have duplicated and amplified the plan
of the Temple of Peace, the Temple of
Trajan must always have been part of the

Fig.7. The capital of the Column of Trajan, c.1988.

(Barbara Bini).

32 This architrave/frieze is not published. Pensabene et al. 52, mention it, however, suggesting
(probably erroneously) that sphinxes and griffons may have come from the same frieze. The
inventory and Packer catalogue numbers (supra n.4) of the most important fragments of the sphinx
frieze are: Inv. 3655, Cat. 126B; Inv. 3666, Cat. 126C; Inv. 3667, Cat. 126D; Inv. 3670, Cat. 126H; Inv.
3671, Cat. 1261; Inv. 3672, Cat. 126J; Inv. 3673, Cat. 126K; Inv. 3674, Cat. 126L; Inv. 3675, Cat. 126M; Inv.
3676, Cat. 126N; Inv. 3677, Cat. 1260; Inv. 3679, Cat. 126E; Inv. 3680, Cat. 126Q; Inv. 3681, Cat. 126R; Inv.
3682, Cat. N. 126G; Inv. 5456, Cat. 126A; Inv. 5457, Cat. 126F; Inv. 5461, Cat. 126P; Inv. 5954, Cat. 126S;
Inv. 5957, Cat. 126.
33 Oxford Classical Dictionary (2d. ed., Oxford 1970) 1009.
34 RE, ser. 2,6, cols. 1746-47.
35 P. Zanker, The power of images in the age of Augustus (Ann Arbor 1988) 270-71 notes that "Ever
since the 30s B.C., the sphinx had been a symbol of hope," and Augustus had a golden signet ring
with the design of a sphinx; S. L. Cesano, La sfinge suite monete antiche e sull'anello-sigillo di
Augusto (Roma 1926) 1-2 quotes the ancient sources.
36 The kind of planning Claridge (supra n.3) 22 terms "essentially opportunistic."
37 Supra n.14.
38 Like the statue it supports, the modern finial dates from the 16th c: F.B. Florescu, Die Trajanssdule
(Bukarest 1969) 51. According to a drawings of P. S. Bartoli (supra n.15), reproduced by Florescu 15,
and Sebastiano Serlio, Trattato di architettura (Venezia 1584) 3, 28 in Agosti et al. Colonna traiana
172 James E. Packer

original plan,39 and in fact its original design is shown (significantly uncaptioned) on reverses
of Trajanic sestertii which date from Trajan's fifth consulship (1O5-1O8).40 Moreover, since the
plans of the Temple and its temenos were the ultimate elaboration of a design feature found
throughout the Forum (infra §4), its plan could not have been complete without them, even
though the earliest publicity for the Forum would not have named the as yet living Trajan as
the ultimate dedicatee of the Temple.

D. The design of Trajan's Forum

Whether Apollodorus of Damascus, a ''column Committee," a "Committee of variously
talented people,"or "some Senatorial Committee",41 the architect(s) of the Forum of Trajan
had to create a design which would somehow harmonize with the several earlier imperial
fora, a previously disparate assemblage of temples, public squares, and colonnades. Consequent­
ly, by summarizing the visual concepts realized in the earlier monuments, his/their trium­
phant new design, 'completed' the earlier fora, uniting them into a 'Master Plan', a single har­
monious architectural composition.42 Several important schemata contributed to this result.
2. Design references to the earlier imperial fora
The axes which determined the general layout of Trajan's Forum continued those of its
predecessors. The N-S axis extended that of the Temple of Peace; while the position of the
columns of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar (fig.l) set the line of the south
entry wall of the new Forum.43 Yet, of these two axes, the first was the most important — the
organizing element which melded all the fora into a grandiose whole.44
As the axis of the Temple of Peace (fig.l) determined the center of the Forum of Trajan, so
the Flavian complex as a whole became the conceptual point of departure for the Trajanic
plan. Laid out as a mirror-reverse image of the Temple of Peace,45 Trajan's Forum reiterated
the architectural elements of its Flavian model while varying and magnifying them. Thus the
Temple of the Deified Trajan (fig. 1.1), surely a part of the original plan,46 occupied a posit-

(supra n.3) fig.7 (p. 25), the ancient finial on which the statue of Trajan stood was probably a
segmental sphere: Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 7, 'The base for the statue/' According to Percier,
it was protected by a gilded "overlapping leaf pattern:" Percier (supra n.19) 6, pl. 2 = Roma antiqua
(supra n.4) 146; Agosti et al., No. 44 (p. 103). Several reproductions of the Column from the late 17th
to early 19th c. rendered its ancient form: Agosti et al., Nos. 50 (p. 112), 88 (p. 194).
39 J. B. Ward-Perkins (supra n.ll) 351-52; Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 198-99.
40 P. Strack, Die Reichspragung zur Zeit des Traian, vol. 1 of Untersuchungen zur romische
Reichsprdgung des zweiten Jahrunderts (Stuttgart 1931) 149-53, pl.6.393, 394; BMCRE 3, vii, Nos. 863,
864, pl. 32.8-9; Pensa (supra n.16) 267-74. For the 5 variants, see Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 11,
"The Temple of Trajan."
41 Supra n.l; Lepper and Fere (supra n.l) 19,191.
42 P. H. von Blanckenhagen, 'The imperial fora," JSAH 13.4 (1954) 23-26; A. Frazer, 'The imperial fora:
their dimensional link," in A. and R. T. Scott (edd.), Eius virtutis studiosi: classical and postclassical
studies in memory of Frank Edward Brown (1908-1988) (Hanover and London 1993) 411-19.
43 von Blanckenhagen (supra n.42) 24.
44 Ibid. 25-26.
45 I base my description of the plan of the Temple of Peace on A. M. Colini, "Forum Pacis," BullCom
65 (1937) 7-40; cf. Frazer (supra n.42) n.23. Colini's plan (pl. 2 by G. Gatti) is that of the Forma Urbis
and his isometric restoration of the Forum by I. Gismondi (his pl. 4: reproduced many times since)
gives a general idea of the ancient appearance of the monument. F. Castagnoli and L. Cozza,
"L'angolo meridionale del Foro della Pace," BullCom 76 (1956-58) 119-42 supplement Colini's report.
46 As G. Rodenwaldt, "Rdmische Staatsarchitektur," H. Berve, Das Neubild der Antike (Leipzig 1942)
2, 339, H. Riemann in Gnomon 38 (1966) 615, Zanker (supra n.15) 538; P. Pensabene et al. (supra n.4)
46, 53, Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) 199-203, and Packer (supra n.4) 1, Chapt. 8, Appendix 11,
 Trajan's Forum again 173

Fig.8 (left). White marble Severan copy of a Dacian atlas from the Forum of Trajan. (Museo Pio
Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums, Rome, No. 10534; Getty Center).
Fig.9 (right). A Dacian atlas from the Forum of Trajan. (Cat. No. 187; Getty Center).

"Temple of Trajan," have argued, the plan of Forum without the Temple would be meaningless. See
nos. 4, 5 infra.
174 James E. Packer

Fig. 11. Cantilevered comice supported by a Dacian

atlas, probably from the attic facade of the West
colonnade. (Inv. No. 2694, Cat. No. 151 A.)
ion analogous to that of the Temple of Peace
(fig.1.11); the Basilica Ulpia represented the
colonnade in front of that shrine; and the
enormous rectangular Trajanic Area Fori
unmistakably echoed the formal garden laid
out in front of the Temple of Peace.47
The entire Forum was conceived in the
manner of a contemporary literary essay. That
is, although an original monument in its own
right, it was assembled from familiar parts
which echoed those of its other famous
neighbors. Repeating their achievements, it
surpassed them on their own terms.48 The plan
and its large-scale measurement may have
come directly from the Temple of Peace
(fig.I),49 but lesser elements also constituted
major visual references. The marble pave­
Fig. 10. Pavonazzetto Dacian atlas from the facade of ments in the east and west colonnades varied
the Basilica Ulpia now at the SW comer of the Arch the pavement in the lateral colonnades of the
of Constantine. (Cat. No. 185; Barbara Bini.) Forum of Augustus (fig.I),50 and, with their

47 Aul. Gell. 13.25.1-2, calls the open square in the Forum of Trajan, the "Area Fori."
48 As Frazer notes, "The act of repetition is an example of conventional pietas strengthening the bond
between the builder and his predecessor or predecessors; the successively larger fora are examples
of gloria. From Augustus onward, each emperor who engaged in forum building acknowledged his
predecessor and at the same time aggrandized himself:" Frazer (supra n.42) 417.
49 The measurement was approximately 400 Roman feet: Frazer (supra n.42) 415; Packer (supra n.4) 1,
Chapt. 8, n.14.
50 South colonnade of the Forum of Augustus: I. Gismondi, "Foro di Augusto," BullCom 90 (1985)
fig.49c; H. Bauer, "Augustusforum, Hallen und Exedren," Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene
 Trajan's Forum again 175

Fig. 12. Frame from an imago clipeata on the attic of the east colonnade. (1972; Inv. No. 4037, Cat. No.
102.)
long lines of Dacian captives (figs. 8, 9, 10) bearing elaborate cornices (fig.l 1), the attics of
colonnades (fig. 1.7, 8) and the Basilica Ulpia unmistakably quoted the attics of Augustus'
colonnades, recalled the facade of the Basilica Aemilia in the Roman Forum (figs. 1, 13), and
perhaps even cited the statues on an attic facade facing into the garden behind the Theater of
Pompey.51
The imagines clipeatae (fig.l2) on the facades of the Central Arch and the attics of the east
and West colonnades (fig.1.7, 8) again referred to the attics of the colonnades in the Forum of
Augustus and to that on the fagade of the Basilica Aemilia (figs.l, 13).52 The hemicycles

Republik (Mainz am Rhein 1988) 188 (fig.81), "Farbtafel" 3; east colonnade in Forum of Trajan:
Packer (supra n.4) fig.149, reproduced in Packer and Sarring, 'Trajan's Forum" (supra n.17) 58 and
iid., 'Toro di Traiano" (supra n.17) 73.
51 Forum of Augustus: P. Zanker, Forum Augustum (Tubingen n.d.) 12-13, pl.25; on the south lateral
colonnade, Bauer (supra n.50) 184-89. In conversation some years ago, the late Frank Brown
mentioned to me the atlantes from the Basilica Aemilia; according to him, G. Boni originally
excavated them, later reburying them under the pavement of the Basilica Aemilia. H. Bauer,
"Basilica Aemila," Kaiser Augustus (supra n.50) 210, notes that they were of pavonazzetto (like the
Dacians on the facade of the Basilica Ulpia). In "Basilica Aemilia," Mitteilungen des Deutschen
Archdologen-Verbandes e.V. 8.2 (1977) 92, he describes them as "Statuen orientalischer Herrscher
(?)," and (p. 91, fig.2) locates them on an interior attic. They were, however, probably on the facade,
as Coarelli (who identifies these statues as "Persiani") has recently suggested: F. Coarelli, U foro
romano. Periodo repubblicano e Augusteo (Roma 1985) 296. Although there is little certainty, the
statues of the 14 nations subdued by Pompey may have been on the attic of the garden fagade of the
scaenae frons of his theater: see Platner-Ashby 426, 516.
52 For clipei on the facade of the Basilica Aemilia on a denarius of the first century B.C., see G. Fuchs,
"Zur Baugeschichte der Basilica Aemilia in republikanischer Zeit" R&mMitt 63 (1956) 19-
22. Coarelli (supra n.51) 296-97, implies that the "Persians" over the columns on the attic of the
Basilica Aemilia may have flanked imagines clipeatae, like the caryatids in the Forum of Augustus
and the atlantes in the Forum of Trajan. For clipei and caryatids from the facades of the lateral
176 James E. Packer

Fig.13. Section of the Basilica Aemilia, c.179 B.C. The dotted lines indicate its early 3rd-c. B.C.
predecessor. (Frank E. Brown.)
clearly duplicated those in the Forum of Augustus.53 The general plan of the Basilica Ulpia
was probably based on that of the Basilica Aemilia (fig.13) and other similar earlier
structures,*54 and, turned 90°, this plan was repeated in the Area Fori. There, the two avenues of
trees,55 aligned with the south lateral porches of the Basilica and intercolumniations of the
columns along the facades of the east and west colonnades (fig. 1.7, 8) replaced the interior
columns of the Basilica Ulpia, and the hemicycles behind the colonnades (fig.l, 6, 9)
anticipated the apses of the Basilica. The Equus Traiani in the center of the Area Fori quoted
the Equus Caesaris in the Forum of Caesar and the recently suppressed Equus Domitiani on the
northwest side of the Roman Forum 56 And, in size and detailing, even the Temple of the
Deified Trajan (fig. 1.1) was probably a close copy of the neighboring Temple of Mars Ultor

colonnades in the Forum of Augustus: V. Kockel, "Fragmente aus der Attika der Hallen: Karyatiden
und Ammonskopfe," Kaiser Augustus (supra n.50) 192-94; Zanker, Forum Augustum (supra n.51)
figs. 5, 25 and Gismondi (supra n.50) fig.77. For the clipei on the fatjade of the east colonnade in the
Forum of Trajan, see Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.61, 3, Folio 31, reproduced in Packer and Sarring
'Trajan's Forum" (supra n.17) 59; in J. Packer, 'Trajan's Forum in 1989," AJA 96.1 (1992) fig.l (p. 158);
and in Packer and Sarring, "Foro di Traiano" (supra n.17) 88. The clipei frames are: Inv. 4037, 4039,
4040 (supra n.4), Packer Cat. 102-4 (supra n.4). On the atlantes of the Forum of Trajan, Zanker,
"Trajansforum" (supra n.15) 510-512; Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 4, "Attic. Atlantes and imagines
clipeatae; Appendix 5, "Attic. Lower exterior order. Statues of Dacian prisoners."
53 Zanker (supra n.51) 8,15, plan and pls.7, 33. Bauer (supra n.50) 184-89; Gismondi (supra n.50) figs.49a
49c, 50a, 50c, 51,52, 78. '
54 In section, the earliest versions of the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica at Cosa had much in
common with the later Basilica Ulpia: Packer (supra n.4) 2, pls. 63.1-3; F. E. Brown, Cosa. The making
of a Roman town (Ann Arbor 1980) 56-58, figs.69-72, 73.
55 J. Packer, K. Sarring, R. Sheldon, "A new excavation in Trajan's Forum," AJA 87 (1983) 165-72.
56 On the equestrian monuments of Caesar and Domitian, see T. Kraus, "Platz und Denkmal,"
RtimMitt 81 (1974) 121-26; on the latter: C. F. Giuliani, Foro Romano. L'area centrale (Firenze 1980)
35-46, the preliminary version of C. F. Giuliani, P. Verduchi, L'area centrale del Foro Romano
(Firenze 1987) 118-22.
 Trajan's Forum again 177

(fig.I).57 These frequent architectural citations intimately connected the Forum of Trajan with
its neighbors and set Apollodorus (?) squarely within the local architectural tradition.

2. 'Architectural secrets and revelations'

The second schema might be termed 'Architectural secrets and revelations'.58 Although
composed of simple geometric elements, the plan of the Forum must have seemed enormously
complex to the ancient visitor. Looking into one of the lateral colonnades from the brightly lit
Area Fori, he would have dimly perceived the regular file of pilasters which divided the
back wall into bays; and in the center, the more brightly lighted, taller volume of the
hemicycle.59 These hemicycles (fig. 1.6, 9) and the orderly rows of columns within the Basilica
Ulpia produced remote, mysterious vistas which receded into darkened interiors accented by
daylight introduced from artfully concealed sources. Reminiscent of Campanian wall-paintings
in the Second Style,60 these great colonnades repeated the insistent vertical rhythms of the
porticoes of the Area Fori and both framed and divided the interiors to produce vivid
alternations of light and shade. Thus, the dazzling daylight of the Area Fori would have
filtered into the nave of the Basilica Ulpia through 3 rows of columns, and, gazing from the
nave towards either end of the building, the visitor would have seen, through the
continuations of the same colonnades, the more brightly lit, curving sweep of the richly
articulated wall of the apse with its tribunal and statues framed within niches.61
Once surrounded by the porticoes which framed the Area Fori, the visitor was, therefore,
constantly surprised. From the open pavement in front of the Basilica Ulpia, the east and west
colonnades (fig.l, 7, 8) hid the hemicycles and the apses of the Basilica. The Basilica blocked
off a view of much of the Column of Trajan, the two libraries (fig.l, 3, 4), and the Temple
(fig.1.1); and even from inside the colonnades or the nave of the Basilica, columnar screens
effectively concealed the hemicycles or apses. Enclosed within its portico, the Column of Trajan
was fully visible only from the north terrace of the Basilica Ulpia or the steps of the Temple
(fig. 1.1); and even though the Temple of Trajan equalled the size of the Temple of Mars Ultor

57 On the basis of the numismatic evidence, A. Nibby (supra n.15) 207, L. Canina, Gli edifizj di Roma
antica (Roma 1848) 2: pl. 116, R. Lanciani, Forma Urbis Romae (reprint, Roma 1989) pl.22, and I.
Gismondi, postulate an octastyle Temple: I. Gismondi in A. M. Colini, "Notizario di scavi, scoperte e
studi intorno alle antichita di Roma e del Lazio 1931-1932-1933/' BullCom 61 (1933) 256 (pl. A,
reproduced here in revised form as fig.l). In his account of the discovery of the capital from the
Temple, "Scavi di Roma, Bdl (1869) 237, Lanciani also bases his idea of the facade on numismatic
evidence. However, in an unpublished account of this excavation which took place in 1866, A.
Pellegrini (supra n.4), records that enough of the facade was cleared to determine that it had been
octastyle. Thus we must discount the recent assertion of Boatwright (supra n.7) 91, that 'There is ...
no hard evidence for the octastyle facade of the Temple ...." Acquainted perhaps with Pellegrini's
report and following the pattern of the Temple of Mars Ultor (fig.l, fully excavated for the first time
in the 1930's), Gismondi (supra) also renders a pseudo-dipteral facade giving the Temple 26
monolithic columns. The columns of the Temple of Mars Ultor (fig.l) are 21.60 m high; those of the
Temple of Trajan (fig.l.1), 21.695 m: Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 10, "Measurements and
proportions." Since the dimensions of the surviving shafts and the Corinthian capital from the porch
of the Temple of Trajan (supra n.4) virtually reproduce the dimensions of the corresponding
elements in the pronaos of the Temple of Mars Ultor, the Temple of Trajan probably (as Gismondi
has proposed) copied the Temple of Mars Ultor very closely.
58 What Blanckenhagen (supra n.42) 24 calls "the Roman fondness for effects of surprise."
59 Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.62, reproduced in Packer and Sarring, "11 Foro di Traiano" (supra n.17) 86-87.
60 See, for example, the photographs of the Second-Style frescoes in room 15 in the Villa of Poppaea
Sabina at Oplontis: A. De Franciscis, "La villa romana di Oplontis," in B. Andreae and H. Kyrieleis
(edd.), Neue Forschungen in Pompeji (Recklinghausen 1975) 9-17, pls.24-26.
61 Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.154 reproduced in American Society of Architectural Perspectivists,
Architecture in Perspective 5 (Boston 1990) cover, 8-9.
178 James E. Packer

(fig.l),62 the visitor only first glimpsed it after entering the peristyle around the Column of
Trajan. Consequently, these architectural 'secrets' transformed a casual walk through the
Forum into a series of progressive visual revelations, an effect fundamental to the last of the
great themes (§5 infra) around which the Forum was planned.

3. Celebration of Trajan as conquering general

The third schema celebrated Trajan's military prowess as the conqueror of Rome's enemies in
the west and east. This was an impressive response to the decorative program of the majestic
Temple of Peace at the other end of the same central axis (No. 1 supra). Face to face, the two
fora together symbolized imperial war and peace.63
The three triumphal arches which pierced the entry wall to the south first stated this
grand theme.64 Atop the central arch, the colossal gilt statues of Trajan, crowned by victory and
conveyed into the city in seiuges led by attendants, marked the central axis of the Forum and
first attracted the visitor's eye.65 In front of piers on the attic, statues of dejected Dacian

62 Supra n.57.
63 Cf. Frazer (supra n.42) 413: "Balanced about the axis of the Forum of Augustus, as a 'forum belli' it
[the Forum of Trajan] appeared as a pendant to Vespasian's Temple of Peace, a monumental
example of the Roman penchant for antitheses."
64 Despite its absence from Gismondi's standard modern plan of the Forum (here fig.l; supra n.57),
the SE lateral arch has long been known and stood near the site of the Church of S. Mary in Campo
Carleo beneath the intersection of the via Alessandrina and the via del Grillo. As it appeared before
the excavations of 1928-34, this site is shown on maps of the neighborhood given in L. Barroero,
A. Racheli, A. Conti, M. Serio, Via dei Fori Imperiali (Venezia 1983) 80, fig.34 and Pensabene et al.
(supra n.4) 43 (figs.7, 8). Thus the excavated remains of the SE lateral arch were not on the axis of the
Forum (cf. Pensabene et al. 47, n.40, 126-27) and are not the ruins of the central arch which appears
on coins with the legend "FORVM TRAIAN[I]"(infra n.65). Although buried, the SE lateral arch may
have been partially intact until 1526 (R. Lanciani, The ruins and excavations of ancient Rome
[Boston and New York 1897] 312; R. Lanciani, Storia degli scavi di Roma [reprint Roma 1989] 1, 278-80,
quoted in Pensabene et al. 57, n.8) when the monument was damaged. In 1570, a number of
historical reliefs came to light in its immediate vicinity (A. Bartoli, "La recinzione meridionale del
Foro Traiano,"AttiPontAcc, Memorie Ser. 3.1, pt. 2 [1924] 183, quoting F. Vacca, Memorie [Roma
1594] chapt. 9, republished in F. Nardini, Roma antica di Famiano Nardini riscontrata ed accresciuta
delle ultime scoperte e con note ed osservazioni critico-antiquarie di Antonio Nibby [Roma 1820] vol.
4, 7-8; Pensabene et al. 90, 98). After the demolition of the Church of S. Mary in Campo Carleo in
1862, the foundations of the SE lateral arch appeared with fragments of the entablature, a
Composite order, and a Dacian atlas: A. Pellegrini, "Arco di Trajano," Bdl (1863) 78-80.
In order to balance the SE lateral arch and render the design of the Forum symmetrical, Jordan first
postulated the existence of a SW Lateral Arch in 1878, locating it under what was, in his day, the
intersection of the via de' Carbonari and the via Cremona: H Jordan, Topographic der Stadt Rom im
Altertum (3rd ed., C. Huelsen, ed., Berlin 1885) 1.2, 456-57. Accepting Jordan's hypothesis, Bartoli
produced a rendering of the south end of the Forum with the 3 arches: Bartoli, "Recinzione" (supra)
189-91, figs.8, 9. Wace connected fragments of reliefs recorded in several 16th-c. drawings by
Panvinio with an arch on the SW side of the Forum of Trajan which "may have been one of the
entrances to that forum:" A. J. B. Wace, "Studies in Roman historical reliefs," BSR 4 (1907) 251, 254.
And finally, from the same Vatican codex as Panvinio's designs, there is yet another anonymous
sketch (of the SW Lateral Arch?) — by Panvinio (?) or Pirro Ligorio (?) — which shows a Dacian
noble led away in chains by his Roman captors: Vat. Lat. 3439, f. 84v = Lanciani, Storia (supra n.64) 1,
279 (fig.167) and Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.51.
65 As F. Kleiner, The Arch of Nero in Rome (Roma 1985) 79, n.45, 91, and S. De Maria, Gli archi onorari
di Roma e dell'Italia romana (Roma 1988) 126, 128, argue, the arch which appears on the reverses of
Trajanic coins to commemorate Trajan's victories in Dacia is what is called here the "Central Arch."
The central arch appears on the reverses of aurei and sestertii bearing the legend "FORVM
TRAIAN[I]" (to which the sestertii add below "SC"): Strack (supra n.40) 202-3; BMCRE 3, Nos. 509 (pl.
 Trajan's Forum again 179

prisoners identified the enemy and announced his subjugation; and the full-sized
representations of the generals (?) in the aediculae in the 5 bays of the 2 facades, and the busts
of other officers (?) in the clipei above, picked out and honored the emperor's most important
aides. All the visible artistic symbols around the Area Fori commemorated this military
prowess. Gilded bronze triumphal chariots crowned the 3 entry arches and the 3 matching
porches of the Basilica Ulpia opposite. Standards in the same material stood on both the
attics of the Basilica Ulpia and the colonnades.66
On the attics of the colonnades, inscriptions reading "EX MANVBIIS" revealed that the
conquered enemy had unwillingly financed the Forum;67 and on the attic of the Basilica and the
pedestals above it, additional inscriptions commemorated the military divisions which had
fought in the Dacian wars (fig.14)68 On the attics of the buildings on all 4 sides of the Forum,
the ubiquitous statues of Dacians (figs.8-10) visibly demonstrated that even the powerful
physiques of the enemy soldiers had not prevented their complete discomfiture. And the
heavy ornamental cornices they supported (fig.11) indicated that, after their conquest, these
hardy barbarians had been forced into the service of the Empire.69 And in the monument at the
center of the Forum, the figure of Trajan, mounted on an impressive charger, held aloft the
symbols of war and victory 70

4. Climactic theme and variations

One of the most important schemata was the principle of 'climactic theme and variations'.
A single large-scale unit — a half- or segmental circle broken by a central rectangular element
— occurs several times throughout the Forum, becoming larger and more complex with each
successive appearance. First seen in the curving south entry-wall of the Forum, this pattern
resembles the arrangement of the large hemicycles behind the east and west colonnades (fig.
1.6, 9). There, however, a rectangular void, a recess flanked by two columns, replaces the three-
dimensional solid of the Central Arch of the south entry wall. With tribunals as the central
elements, the apses of the Basilica Ulpia (fig. 1.4, 5) repeat the same pattern, which, in a
rectangular variant, appears again in the interiors of the libraries (fig. 1.2, 3). Set off by the

18.3) 984; Pensa (supra n.16) 275-79. Reverses with the Arch exhibit 6 distinct variants. Variant I
includes the largest number of specimens, all aurei, but, with minor variations, aurei and sestertii of
the 6 other variants closely resemble these coins: Packer (supra n.4) vol.l, Appendix 11, ''The central
arch," figs. 47,48; vol.2, pls. 64.1-4,65.1-4.
66 A row of pedestals crowned the attic of the east colonnade: Packer (supra n.4) 1, fig.61, 3, Fol. 31,
reproduced several times: Packer, "Trajan's Forum," (supra n.17) 59; "Foro di Traiano (supra n.17)
52. There are 8 sockets in the top of one of best preserved, Inv. 3971 (supra n.4), Cat. 179C: Zanker
(supra n.15) 525 (fig.39). Undoubtedly, these were for the gilded bronze standards mentioned by
Aulus Gellius 13.25.1-3. There were similar standards on the attic of the south facade of the Basilica
Ulpia. These appear on the reverses of Trajanic coins which show the Forum facade of the Basilica
Ulpia (Strack [supra n.40] 204-5; BMCRE 3, Nos. 492 (pl.17.15), 982 (pl.38.8), 983; Pensa [supra n.16]
279-81). Reverses with the Basilica Ulpia display 5 different variants (Packer [supra n.4) 1, Appendix
11, "The Basilica Ulpia," figs. 131, 132; 2, pls. 66.1-4, 67.1-4), and their sockets survive on several
fragments of the inscribed cornice: Inv. 2604, 2690, 2658, Cat. 163-65. For a restoration of the south
(Forum) facade of the Basilica Ulpia, see Packer (supra n.4) 1, Frontispiece, figs 150, 152, 3, Folios 26,
33. These drawings are also included in Packer and Sarring "Trajan's Forum," (supra n.17) 60, 61; in
Packer, "Trajan's Forum in 1989" (supra n.52) figs. 2 (p. 159), 3 (p. 160), and in Packer and Sarring,
"Foro di Traiano" (supra n.17) 70-71, 72-73,75.
67 Aul.Gell. 13.25.1-3.
68 Supra n.66.
69 Zanker (supra n.15) 512.
70 Supra n.17.
180 James E. Packer

Fig. 14. Inscribed cornice from the south attic facade of the Basilica Ulpia (Inv. No. 2658, Cat. No. 165,
CIL 6:3493 = 32902, Getty Center).

Fig. 15. Inscribed pedestal from the south stair of the Basilica Ulpia. (Inv. No. 2722, Cat. No. 180A, CIL
6: 959.a, Fototeca Unione).
 Trajan's Forum again 181

curving porticoes of its temenos,71 the Temple of Trajan (fig.l.1) is the last and most grandiose
expression of a schema which, without the Temple and its precinct, would have been
artistically and conceptually meaningless.72

5. An apotheosis in stone
The fifth schema was intimately related to the fourth: the forum was intended as an
exalted biography in stone of the victorious commander-in-chief. Indeed, Trajan's multiple
images were everywhere: on the 6 pedestals along the south stair to the Basilica Ulpia
(fig.15),73 perhaps in the recesses in the east and west hemicycles (fig.l, 6,9), in the tribunals in
the apses of the Basilica Ulpia (fig.1.4, 5), in the reliefs which wound around the Column, and
on its top. And his guise constantly changed. In the Forum he was the omnipotent victor; in the
hemicycles and tribunals of the Basilica, he may have been the wise administrator and
pontifex maximus; on the spirals of the Column, the sagacious general; at its top, the deceased
hero; and in the Temple, the sanctified divus.74 Thus, by the time the perceptive visitor had
made his pilgrimage through the Forum to the Temple stair, flanked by statues of Victory and

71 Early in this century, an excavation on the present site of the General Insurance of Venice Building
cleared the street behind the west colonnade and a part of the perimetric wall of the temenos,
showing that the north end of the colonnade curved east toward the cella of the Temple of Trajan:
G. Gatti "Saepta lulia e Porticus Aemilia nella Forma Severiana," BullCom 62 (1934) 125-26, pl.l
(follows p. 149); Pensabene et al. (supra n.4) 85, and Packer (supra n.4) 1, Appendix 9, "Plan."
Recently, Lepper and Frere (supra n.l) and Boatwright (supra n.7) have both questioned whether or
not the colonnades of the temenos were actually curved. Boatwright (supra n.7) 90-91 maintains that
the colonnades were rectilinear. Her arguments are:
1) Gatti's original excavation uncovered only the west side of the curving street behind the West
colonnade. Thus it is not certain that the east street (and colonnade) also curved.
2) The level of this semi-circular street was 1.06 m. lower than the pavement around the Column of
Trajan.
3) "Bowed porticoes around temple precincts are extremely unusual."
Actually, since the west street curved, the well-known Roman penchant for axial symmetry suggests
that the east street and colonnade did as well. That the street was on a level lower than the precinct
of the Temple suggests only that the Temple and the surrounding colonnades all stood on a
platform, something also shown on coins which depict the Temple of Trajan and its temenos: Packer
1, Appendix 11, 'The Temple of Trajan, variant I." Lepper and Frere 202 also assume that restored
plans of the Forum which derive from Gismondi's plan (here fig.l, supra n.57) rely on the
numismatic representations of the Temple and its temenos on the reverses of Trajanic sestertii
(supra n.40) and suggest that "this is just the kind of feature on which coins, with their peculiar
problems of presentation ... may be most misleading." Since, however, Gismondi's plan clearly
shows the Gatti excavations of 1902, Gismondi has derived the curving colonnades of his temenos
not from numismatic evidence but from those excavations. And finally, as argued here, the partially
curved porticoes of the temenos were a necessary and logical culmination of the plan of the Forum
as a whole.
72 Since, without the Temple and the curving colonnades of its temenos (supra n.71), the plan of the
Forum is incomplete. This 'theme and variations' is closely linked to the second major theme (infra
§5) which underlay the design of the Forum as a whole.
73 The identical inscriptions on 3 of these pedestals dedicated them to Trajan (CIL VI. 959). Two
pedestals survive, one approximately in situ (Inv. 2640, Cat. 180, CIL VI. 959.b; the other (fig.15, Inv.
2722, Cat. 180A, CIL VI, 959.a), and a third (which has now disappeared) was originally found in July
1813: C. Fea, Appendice alia ristampa della Colonna Traiana disegnata et intagliata da P.S. Bartoli
(Roma, n.d. but probably 1825) 4. According to Fea, Notizie degli scavi nell' Anfiteatro Flavio e nel
Foro Traiano (Roma 1813) 22, about two weeks after the discovery of the third pedestal, part of a
fourth appeared.
74 Zanker (supra n.15) 538-44; Pensabene et al. (supra n.4) 53.
182 James E. Packer

Peace,75 he would have understood the implications of this second grand theme. His progress
through the Forum had successively revealed the various stages in the life of Trajan as he
progressed from mortality to deification.

E Conclusions
Thus the Column (fig. 2), the reliefs on its shaft, the Temple, and its temenos (even if, as
Claridge has suggested, they were all finally completed and decorated by Hadrian)76 were
integral parts of an original plan which, without any one of them, makes very little conceptual
or architectural sense. Axis-marker, heroon, and tomb, the Column was a sermon in stone, a
visual history of the Dacian Wars which indicated to the semi-literate why the Senate had
deified Trajan. Without the Temple (fig.l.1), the relationship between the Forum of Trajan
and the Temple of Peace (fig-1) would been conceptually unclear, the final grand conclusion of
Apollodorus' (?) theme and variations would have been lacking, and Trajan's three-
dimensional biography would have been deprived of its triumphant climax. Thus, even if not
completed until 11 or more years after its original dedication,77 Trajan's Forum must have been
an artistically seamless whole.
Those who have recently suggested otherwise might well reconsider.
Northwestern University, Evanston

75 P. Hill, The monuments of ancient Rome as coin types (London 1989) 158-59, pl. 15.5.
76 Claridge (supra n.3) 21-22.
77 The Forum was dedicated in 112. See L. Vidmen (ed.), Fasti ostienses (Prague 1982) 48, pl. 12: A.D.
112: "[K. lajnuar. Imp. Traianus Forum suum et [baslilicam Ulpiam dedicavit." There were at least 3
copies of the dedicatory inscription of the Temple, one on the Temple itself; the other two above the
entrances to the temenos (?): CIL VI. 966 and VI. 31215. These record a dedication in Hadrian's third
consulship, probably, according to Leon, in the period after the death of his adoptive mother, Plotina
(122) and before he received the title of Pater Patriae (127/128): C. Leon, Die Bauornamentik des
Trajansforums (Wien 1971) 39 (cited by Boatwright [supra n.7] 94, n.54). Hence, after the formal
dedication, construction went on in the Forum for between 11 and 16 years.