Trajan\'s Column

[Graham Sumner]

Jim wrote:

Actually, you've raised a good point. The likelihood is that the external carvings are just decoration that didn't really mean much at all, so long as the story of the campaign was adhered to. The most important aspect of the column was the viewing gallery at the very top, accessible from the internal spiral staircase, which showed the forum and Trajan's Markets.

So, can we deduce that what's carved on the column is irrelevant to any accurate portrayal at all of soldiers as it simply didn't matter? Can we, quite frankly, completely throw out any use of the column as having any vestige of accuracy in its depiction of soldiers and their equipment, and anyone seeking to use it as a military reference needs to give up and find something more useful to do, like travel to Romania?

Compare this with the Adamklissi monument which is viewable from the ground, and the huge difference in the depictions of soldiers there.

Hi Jim

The column itself was surrounded by viewing platforms on a couple of levels so it would have been possible to see the higher images. Remember these too would all have been painted as well, so I guess it was perhaps just about feasible to make out many of the details the sculptors went to otherwise extraordinary lengths to depict. This was also an Imperial commission and one can only imagine the effects mistakes and botched work would have led too. Starring role in the next circus performance perhaps!

Graham.