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+--- Thread: Trajan\'s Column = Roman Hollywood? (/showthread.php?tid=8092)
Trajan\'s Column = Roman Hollywood? - Magnus - 01-17-2007
With the inconsistancies vs the archaeological record, and the purpose of the column being to tell a tale...seems like it's the 2000 year old version of Hollywood. I wonder if it was just as difficult in some cases for the average Roman citizen who was very far removed from the Dacian war, or just sheltered in general, to distinguish between what was real and what was portrayed on the column.
Re: Trajan\'s Column = Roman Hollywood? - alanmac100 - 01-17-2007
If you can't trust it to archaeological evidence then you have to look to the character of the man. It would be difficult to trust the memoirs of Nero or Caligula, but perhaps the likes of Trajan, Hadrian (whose memoirs I am reading at the moment) or Marcus Aurelius do give you an insight into the man and what he wished to be recorded. It seems to me that the example of the Dacian wars isn't neccesarily a good one. The Romans won. end of.. We only have to go back 60+ years to understand that to the victor the spoils. The term 'Non-Military combatant' was used after the second world war but is that common knowledge- I think not.
Alan Machen