Best book on Trajan\'s column

[richsc]

I ran across the Lino Rossi book "Trajan's Column and the Dacian Wars" in the library, and in looking for it in Amazon, saw another book "Trajan's Column: A New Edition of the Cichorius Plates, Introduction, Commentary and Notes" but no real notes on the edition or sample pages. If you are looking for a reference book on T's C, with a complete set of images of the relief, which one would you pick? <p>Legio XX<br>
Fortius Conamur<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Linno Rossi's book is interesting, others might say imaginative. It's the one where an attempt is made to identify units on the column by their shield emblems.<br>
Lepper & Frere's book (new edition of...) is a complete edition with photographs of the column with comments. So if that's what you're looking for, this is the book you want. <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[mcbishop]

<em>Lepper & Frere's book (new edition of...) is a complete edition with photographs of the column</em><br>
<br>
But note that they are screened halftones made from photographs of the screened halftones in the Cichorius original, muddier, and much smaller, so don't expect to be able to draw leading-edge conclusions from them. Better to get hold of a copy of Cichorius (they are around) or the excellent Lehmann-Hartleben volumes:<br>
<br>
Lehmann-Hartleben, K. 1926: <em>Die Trajanssäule. Ein römisches Kunstwerk zu Beginn der Spätantike</em>, Berlin<br>
<br>
There <em>are</em> no good books on Trajan's Column in English at the moment - you'll just have to wait until Coulston has finished his ;-)<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

ooo thats something to look forward to.<br>
<br>
I was looking at TC in the V&A today and saying its about time someone just looked at whats there- because it is very interesting and not easily dismissed [which I have done in the past] <p><img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.martin/forum/mark.gif
" width="100" height="100" align="right">
</p><i></i>

[richsc]

The Lino Rossi book does at least place all the shields next to each other for comparison; I didn't flip through the whole book in the library, but has any other author made similar visual inventories of the different figures & illustrations on the column ? <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>

[Muzzaguchi]

Hi,<br>
<br>
There is the translation of Coarelli<br>
<br>
The Column of Trajan / Filippo Coarelli ; preface by Paul Zanker ; appendices by Bruno Brizzi, Cinzia Conti, Roberto Meneghini ; translated from the Italian by Cynthia Rockwell. Rome : Editore Colombo in collaboration with German Archaeological Institute, c2000.<br>
<br>
The reproductions are all large and crisp.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Murray <p></p><i></i>

[venicone]

not a book - but this wee website has some interesting bits<br>
<br>
[url=http://cheiron.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~trajan/index.html" target="top]This is a site for exploring the Column of Trajan as a sculptural monument[/url] <p><img src="http://www.ttforumfriends.com/images/forum/co.gif"/><br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="color:red;"><strong>[url=http://pub55.ezboard.com/btalkinghistory" target="top]Talking History Forum[/url]</strong></span></p><i></i>

[mcbishop]

<em>has any other author made similar visual inventories of the different figures & illustrations on the column?</em><br>
<br>
Coulston's thesis categorised and listed all the figure types (there is a huge appendix describing <em>each</em> figure) and has charts showing where different shield blazons, types of armour, and types of troops etc occur (IIRC even where all the mistakes - like the famous mail-engraved segmentata - are to be found). The desperate can probably obtain it by inter-library loan; the patient can wait until the book appears.<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>

[Andrew Brozyna]

I've been looking into shield balzons recently and I'd like to note that the drawings in Rossi's book are not a very accurate reference. I have found close-up photographs matching a number of the shields he was trying to draw and noticed lots of inaccuracies. I am guessing he made alot of these drawings by standing at ground level while straining to see the shields up above.<br>
<br>
I've seen an older Cichorius book too (the edition that was published just before the most recent one). Those photographs ARE small. It's such a shame! It's such a beautiful monument, I don't know why no one has made a nice big coffee table photo book of it!<br>
-Andy <p></p><i></i>

[Praefectusclassis]

Hey, if I knew for sure that would recoup the investment, Id make one ín a minute. Trouble is, coffee table type books with beautiful pics are awfully expensive to make. And who's going to buy it except RAT-ers (and realistically, only a small portion of those)? <p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Andrew Brozyna]

Mike,<br>
<br>
Do you have an idea of when Coulston's Trajan Column thesis is being published? I have to say I am in the "desperate" category, but I doubt I could find it through American interlibrary loan. To find good images of all these shields I have resorted to paging through every Roman army book I can, just to find the odd photo that happens to show a close up of a shield. I think I would collapse from the sheer joy of seeing one book with ALL the shields.<br>
<br>
-Andrew <p></p><i></i>

[mcbishop]

<em>Do you have an idea of when Coulston's Trajan Column thesis is being published?</em><br>
<br>
Technically, theses are unpublished; those that are requested through ILL are often distributed as microfilms (although there is now a project to digitise British theses on archaeological subjects... but don't hold your breath). His book, as distinct from the thesis, will be in the pipeline for a while, but the thesis should be requestable now.<br>
<br>
Have you tried looking in the following, which has a complete photographic record of the Column frieze (taken when the scaffolding was up a few years ago)?<br>
<br>
S. Settis, A. La Regina, G. Agosti, and V. Farinella, <em>La Colonna Traiana</em>, Rome 1988<br>
<br>
A scale drawing of the whole frieze was made at the same time, but this is now markedly inferior to the better casts due to the effects of pollution.<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=mcbishop>mcbishop</A> at: 10/31/03 7:21 pm<br></i>

[Andrew Brozyna]

Thanks, I'll look up that Colonna Traiana book. The local university here has a copy!<br>
<br>
-Andrew <p></p><i></i>