Trajan's Column

The Trajan column including its base is 42m high (138ft). This was exactly the height of the hill that stood at this site. It had been leveled to create an open space for the construction of Trajan's Forum.

A band of beautifully carved reliefs winds around the column. The band is more than 180m/600ft long. Its width varies from 60cm/2ft at the bottom to 120cm/4ft at the top. There are more than 2000 carved figures depicting the story of Trajan's Dacian wars between 101-102 and 105-106 A.D. It starts with soldiers preparing for the war and ends with the Dacians being ousted from their homeland. The column consists of 29 pieces of white marble, the largest one weighing up 77 tons. The reliefs were not always in plain white: originally they were gilded and, like many roman monuments, brightly colored.

Initially, a statue of an eagle topped the column, but after Trajan's death it was replaced by a 20ft tall statue of the emperor himself. His ashes and later those of his wife Plotina were placed in the base of the column. In 1587 the statue was replaced again, this time by one of St. Peter.

Legend has it that the column was saved from demolition thanks to Pope Gregory the Great (590-604). He was so moved by a relief depicting Trajan helping the mother of a dead soldier, that he begged God to save Trajan's pagan soul from hell. God then told the pope that Trajan's soul had been saved. The legend also tells Trajan's tongue was still intact when his ashes were excavated. The tongue told about his rescue from hell. The area around the column was then declared sacred, thus saving the column from demolition.

The column is located at Trajan's forum - part of the Imperial Forums - at the Via dei Fori Imperiali, right next to the Piazza Venezia.